


The Nemesis of Rome

by Claudelin_79



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bad Parenting, Dubious Consent, F/F, F/M, Incest, M/M, Possesive, Roma | Rome, Sad, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Stream of Consciousness, Tom Riddle is His Own Warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-02-13 14:49:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 130,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21496045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Claudelin_79/pseuds/Claudelin_79
Summary: In a world of depravity and secrets, ambition and desire, the cruel and enigmatic Emperor Tom watches over everything, fearing to be killed by anyone... except the slave who fascinates him.Rome, September 8I A.D. "I accept being burned by fire, bound with chains, whipped with rods, and killed by iron.""Harry the Barbarian honors the gladiator's oath and becomes one of the best known men in Slytherin's Rome for his recklessness and brutality in the sand. Hermione, the cultured slave from Judea, falls in love with him when she accompanies her mistress, the pretentious Bellatrix Lestrange, to this cruel spectacle. While Bellatrix aspires to become the most powerful woman in Rome by captivating the heart of the Emperor, he has only eyes for Hermione, for whom he could lose everything.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Comments: 26
Kudos: 25





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody!! I'm new writing here  
First of all, I have to clarify something: this story is based on the book "La Concubina deRoma" by Kate Quinn ... however it is not completely the same, I have made some small changes and twists and in fact I intend to work on an alternative ending to the original ... and our protagonist is different in character and decisions to the original ... I wanted to give a personal touch and ... Gryffindor hahaha, I warn you that it is strong beyond violence and such things...it is a very well done drama that at least I was very upset by emotions...it has some homosexual references but they are not major couples;)

HERMIONE  
81 a.C.  
I opened my wrists with a firm incision of the knife and watched spellbound as blood gushed from my veins. My wrists were full of scars, but the sight of my own blood still fascinated me. There was always the risk factor: after so many years, would I finally manage to lose my fear and get a deep enough cut? Would the day have come when my young life would be emptied into that blue vessel decorated with nymphs? The idea, no matter how much I told myself otherwise, terrified me.  
That moment wouldn't come this time either. The first sprout of blood was reduced to a fine thread. I leaned my back on the mosaic-decorated column in the atrium, with the vessel in my lap. A gentle fog would immediately cloud my vision and the world around me would become distant shadows. I needed it, for that day I had to accompany my new owner to the Colosseum to attend the gladiatorial show held on the occasion of the emperor's coronation. And everything was done in the combats...  
-Hermione! -said my lady's voice.  
I masked a curse in a mixture of Greek, Hebrew and street Latin, three languages that my owner did not know.  
In the blue vessel there was hardly a cup of my blood. I bandaged my wrist with a piece of linen, helping me with my teeth to close the knot, and I emptied the vessel into the fountain of the atrium, being careful not to stain my brown wool tunic.my lady would take half a second to discover any drop of blood, and I didn't feel like explaining to her that I used to fill a blue vessel with my blood a couple of times a month with a precious border of nymphs. Actually, to be honest, I didn't tell my owner much. She had only recently bought me, but I knew I shouldn't have trusted her.  
-Hermione!  
I got up too quickly and had to lean on the columns in the atrium. Maybe I had gone a little too far. I had drawn too much blood and nausea invaded me. Those dizziness wouldn't do me any good on a day when I was going to see thousands of animals and people bleeding to death.  
-Hermione! Stop wasting time! -My lady scolded me, showing her precious little head through the bedroom door. I couldn't make out her angry face. Father is waiting, you have to come and get me dressed.  
With safe passage, I approached obediently. I felt my feet float a few palms away from that horrible floor with the enormous and bloody landscape of the Coliseum. My owner s father, Rebastan Lestrange, was one of the organizers of the imperial games.  
-I want the blue dress, the one with the pearls on my shoulders.  
-Yes, my lady.  
That was my mistress, Bellatrix Lestrange. It had been given to her a few months ago as a gift for her seventeenth birthday: a maid of the same age to comb her hair, after a long year in which, after escaping from my last owner, I wandered the streets of Rome, barely surviving... well, at first, I learned to adapt, to find food and also to defend myself, becoming a skillful creature, a miracle, above all defending myself from men, wanting to avoid a certain act for as long as possible.  
-Have you cut yourself again at supper? -He asked me when he saw the bandage on my doll.- How clumsy you are! Careful, don't drop my jewelry box, or I'll get angry. I want the golden ribbons on my hair, Greek style. Today I'm going to be Greek... like you.  
My owner knew perfectly well that I was not Greek, despite the name given to me by the first Athenian merchant who bought me.  
-Yes, my lady - I masked in an excellent Greek.  
She twisted her gesture, pursing her delicate black eyebrows. The fact that I was more cultured than she bothered him greatly. I tried to remind her at least once a week.  
-Don't be presumptuous, Hermione. You're nothing but a Jewish slave, don't forget that.  
-Yes, my lady.  
Submissive, I curled up and picked up her curls while she chatted:  
-Father says Greyback will fight this afternoon. He's our best gladiator, but how ugly he is! No matter how well he dresses, not all the perfume in the world would make him an Apollo. Of course, it's very elegant, even when it's cracking throats... Oh, you punctured me.  
-I'm sorry, my lady.  
-You've got a bad face. You don't have to be like that because of the games. You know that gladiators, slaves and prisoners are going to die anyway.... So, at least we had some fun. -So is my Jewish blood-suggested. -Death has never been fun for us.  
-At least today the games promise to be interesting. Because of the emperor's convalescence and death in the middle of the season, we haven't seen a good show in months.  
-What a thoughtless man! -I commented with irony.  
-The new emperor seems to like games. Tom Marvolo Slytherin... What will he look like? Father has seen them and wished to organize the best fights in his honor. Hermione, bring the pearl earrings.  
-Yes, my lady.  
-And the perfume of musk, which is there.  
Bellatrix was observed in the mirror of burnished steel. She was very young (17, like me), too young for that elegant silk dress, the pearls and the blush. But she was an orphan of a mother and Rebastan, so gifted to deal with slave traders and lanistae, became a wimp in the hands of his only daughter. Besides, she was quite pretty. Her beauty resided not only in her eyes, of a hazelnut, nor in the jet and silky and somewhat wild bush of which she was so proud, but in her Olympic elegance. Counting on her, Bellatrix Lestrange aspired to hunt a distinguished husband, a patrician who would elevate the family to the highest echelons of Roman society. She didn't sympathize with me and the feeling was mutual, I considered her silly and hollow, her only purpose in life is to have more and more wealth and she bet that she didn't even know why, without even stopping to think about what it is that she would really gain with a good position...but that's power, it blinds you, it attracts you and it envelops you in a cloud of hunger...pathetic. Yet I was happy that she was a woman when I was brought before her, only to dress her, comb her hair and assassinate her without any other interest on her part... I would learn quickly.  
She told me to come closer while the fan of peacock feathers languidly waved its sculpted curls. Analyzing our reflexes, making sure she dulled properly as she smoothed the fine silk. The truth is that she came out very favored in the comparison.  
-I look very good," she said, reflecting my thoughts.- Hermione, you need new clothes, pitiful creature with bright eyes. Come on, father is waiting.  
Indeed, the owner of the house was waiting, but his impatience calmed down as Bella smiled at him and turned around in a very feminine gesture.  
-Wow, you look gorgeous. Don't forget to smile at Avery, he belongs to a very important family and has a weakness for beautiful young women.  
I could have informed them that Avery's weakness wasn't precisely women, but nobody asked me. Badly done, for we slaves know everything.  
Most Romans got up in the early hours of the morning to get a good spot in the Coliseum, but the Lestranges had reserved seats. That's why we left to arrive just in time to greet the big families. Bella smiled at Avery, a group of patrician officers standing in a corner, and anyone wearing a purple striped robe with a surname of ancestry. His father, adopting an important pose, exchanged comments with any patrician who smiled at him:  
-I have heard that Emperor Slytherin is planning a campaign in Germania for the next season! He wants to take up his brother's work again, eh? Gellert put those barbarians in their place. We'll see if Tom does the same.  
-Oh, Lestrange! -I heard a voice with a patrician accent say.- Away from I'll smell it!  
-Well, he does his job very well. What good is a smile once in a while if it continues to give good results? -his interlocutor admonished him.  
Rebastan continued smiling and bowing. He would have given thirty years of his life in exchange for the honour of carrying the surname of the Black, the Avery or the Rosier and, by the way, my lady too.  
I stumbled through the stalls of the vendors that filled the streets: souvenirs of deceased gladiators, the blood of this or that fighter preserved in sand, small wooden medallions with the carved face of the famous Greyback. The latter did not sell very well, because not even the artists could make the well-known gladiator look handsome. The portraits of Gilderoy, the famous trident warrior, sold much better.  
-How handsome he is! -From the corner of my eye I saw a group of women and a group of young girls sighing around a medallion. -Every night I sleep with her image under my pillow.  
I smiled with contempt, the Romans drooled over a rough piece of wood...they didn't even do justice by being intelligent, they praised a man temporarily with a hint of melancholy for his inevitable death, ah, but they did culminate his orgasm by seeing his blood run through the sand...that was the community here, they adapted the world to their mercy while the other societies adapted to it, I hated Rome...I did it from the moment I heard his name, but I thought about it well; so is our nature, as long as we have the power we rejoice in crushing the weak in the most creative ways possible...curiosity to know more about the world was always my impulse to stay in it after all, I was sure it harbored more than I saw now.  
The crowd grew around the Coliseum. I had passed many times under the imposing shadow of the building when I had to run an errand for my lady, but that was the first time I had entered. So many marble arches, so many statues watching you arrogantly from their pedestals, so many seats... Fifty thousand enthusiastic spectators could fit inside, or so it was said. An amphitheatre designed for the gods, started by the late Emperor Salazar and finished by his son, Emperor Gellert. Today it opened its doors in honour of Gellert's younger brother, who premiered the purple robe that crowned him as emperor.  
Too much marble for a temple of death. He would have preferred a theatre, a place where he listened to music instead of watching people die. I imagined myself singing for a crowd like that, a huge audience.  
-Keep fanning me, Hermione  
Bellatrix had settled into her velvet cushions, greeting like an empress the masses cheering for her father. As a rule, men and women sat apart in the games, but Rebastan Lestrange, in his capacity as organizer, could sit next to his daughter if he wanted to.  
-Louder! It's going to be a terrible heat. Why doesn't it cool down now? It's autumn!  
Obediently, I shook the fan back and forth. The games would last all day, which meant I had six long hours of fanning ahead of me. Wow! I was going to end up with broken arms.  
A sound of trumpets resounded. For a moment, my heart shrank before that thunderous fanfare. The new emperor looked out onto the imperial box, waving his arm high to the crowd. I tiptoed to better see Tom, the third emperor of the Slytherin dynasty: tall and pale skinned, he was dazzling with his purple cloak and gold crown.  
-Father," said Bellatrix, pulling Rebastan's sleeve, "is it true that the emperor has secret vices? Yesterday, in the public restrooms, I heard that...  
I could have told you the rumours about the hidden vices of all emperors: Tiberius' passion for young slaves, Caligula's incestuous relationships with his sisters, Gellert's lovers? What good was it to have an emperor if you couldn't tell juicy rumours about him?  
However, Tom's wife did not lend herself so much to gossip. Tall, sculptural and charming, she stepped forward to greet the roaring masses with her husband. Unfortunately for lovers of gossip, everything pointed to the empress as a blameless wife. Her silver silk stola and diamonds aroused a murmur of admiration among the women. Silver would undoubtedly become the colour of the season.  
-Father," said Bella, pulling his sleeve again, "you know I look good in silver. A necklace like the empress's...  
Behind the emperor there were several members of his family. Among them was his niece Helena, the youngest daughter of Emperor Gellert. It was rumoured that she had asked permission to be part of the vestals, but had been refused. It was the first time that I saw patricians of royal blood in all their splendour, struggling not to show my grateful astonishment, it was like the paintings and parchments of Greece and its gods... of course in Roman style.  
The emperor took a step forward, raising his arm, and pronounced the formula that considered the games inaugurated. Secret vices or not, he had a clear and powerful voice.  
Other slaves had explained to me many times what the games were like. Duels of wild beasts always opened the morning festivities. Today, in the first place there was a battle between an elephant and a rhinoceros. The latter ended up pulling out an eye on his rival with the horn. I thought I could have lived very happily without knowing what an elephant's scream sounded like.  
-Fabulous! -Rebastan exclaimed, and threw some coins into the sand.  
His daughter was chopping on a plate of dates and honey while I was still concentrating on the public. Forward, backward; forward, backward.  
Then they fought a bull and a bear, and then a lion with a leopard. They were nothing more than treats to whet the appetite of the public. The bear was very lazy and stubborn, so in order to attack the bull it was necessary for three handlers to prick it in the sides with sharp spears until it bled. The lion and leopard, on the other hand, roared and jumped over each other as soon as they were released from their chains. The crowd cheered and chatted, they got up screaming and sat down again. The next spectacle was a pompous parade that aroused the admiration of the public: trained cheetahs fastened with silver chains ran through the arena, accompanied by white bulls with blond children jumping on their backs, and elephants with jewels and tassels that advanced with majestic steps, following the rhythm of a group of Nubian flutists.  
-Father, may I have a Nubian slave? -Bella asked, pulling her father's sleeve for the third time. -Or rather two, a couple of porters to carry my things when I go shopping.  
Then there were comedy numbers: they dropped a dozen hares and a trained tiger in the sand, which came after them like lightning and caught them one after the other, returning them intact to the tamer. I thought it was quite an entertaining spectacle, but in the stands there were several booing sounds. People didn't come to the Coliseum to see animal games, but to see blood.  
-The emperor," Rebastan said, "is a devotee of the goddess Minerva. He has dedicated a new chapel to her in his palace. Perhaps we should make more public offerings.  
The trained tiger and his trainer left, giving way to a hundred white gazelles and a hundred other ostriches with long necks that began to run in the sand while, from the top, some archers were knocking them down one by one. In the middle of such a bloody massacre, Bella saw an acquaintance in a nearby box and greeted him.  
More animal battles followed: lancers against lions, buffaloes and bulls. The buffaloes stampede out, snorting; the bulls ran like madmen to the lances to end up open in a canal; the lions, for their part, grunted stalkers and took the life of a lancer before ending up cornered and shredded. What fun! Forward, backward; forward, backward...  
-Oh, the gladiators! -exclaimed Bella, who left her plate of dates and stood up. Good specimens, Father.  
-All the best for the emperor," Rebastan corroborated, patting his daughter's chin. -And for my little girl, who loves games! The emperor wanted a real battle, not just the typical combats. Something great and spectacular before the midday executions.  
Wearing their purple capes, the gladiators appeared through the doors and formed a circle in the sand among the screams of their followers. Some strutted proudly, others looked straight ahead without turning their heads. Gilderoy, the beautiful trident fighter, threw kisses into the stands while his admirers threw roses at him. Fifty gladiators, paired to fight to the death. Twenty-five would triumph through the Life Gate of the Coliseum, and another twenty-five would end up dragged by iron hooks to the Death Gate.  
-Hail, emperor! -they exclaimed in unison in front of the imperial placo. -Those who are going to die greet you.  
They began to form pairs between the roar of sharp weapons, the squeaking of silver armor, and footprints on the sand. After a few minutes of warm-up with wooden weapons, the emperor dropped his hand.  
As soon as the swords collided, the audience leaned over the marble barriers, shouting cheers to their favourites and cursing the losers amidst fuss, betting and shouting.  
Don't look, I said to myself. Keep going back and forth with the fan. Don't look.  
-Hermione," asked Bella in a picardy tone, "what do you think of that German?  
-He's unlucky," I replied just as the man howled in pain and died pierced by his opponent's trident.  
In the next box, a senator threw a handful of coins in disgust. The amphitheater was a furious sea of fighters. The sand was stained with blood.  
-That Gaul asks for mercy," Rebastan said, sipping his glass of wine. How unfortunate, he dropped his shield. Iugula!  
People shouted iugula to ask for the death of a gladiator, and mitte to spare his life, but the latter was not often heard. Eventually, I discovered that it took an extraordinary display of courage to awaken the clemency of the Colosseum. The audience wanted heroism, blood, death. They didn't like cowards or compassion.  
It all ended quite quickly. The victors stood proudly in front of the imperial box, from where the emperor tossed coins to those who had fought a great battle. The corpses of the defeated lay shrunken and silent in the sand, waiting to be removed by the Coliseum employees. One or two of them were still stirring in agony, trembling as they tried to hold on to their guts. Among laughter, tribunes and girls wagered on how long it would take them to die.  
Forward, backward; forward, backward... My arms hurt.  
-Do you want fruit, Dominus? -offered a slave, presenting a tray of grapes and figs to Lestrange.  
Bella asked for more wine. The patricians, in their boxes, had lively conversations. In the upper bleachers, the people fanned themselves, looking for the sellers of bread and beer. The emperor, lying in his box, played dice with his guards. The morning had passed. For some better than for others.  
During the midday break, the Colosseum employees were busy in the sand: they collected the corpses of the defeated gladiators in carts and raked the pools of blood. The guards then pulled out a row of chained figures who walked slowly: slaves, criminals and prisoners, all condemned to death.  
-Father, can I have more wine? It's a special day!  
Down in the sand, the guards handed the man at the top of the line a blunt sword. The prisoner looked at the gun with a lost look and a hunched back. A guard spurred him on and the man turned and killed the prisoner behind him. He struggled to get it because the sword was not sharp. The victim's screams could hardly be heard amid the murmur of conversations in the stands. No one seemed to be paying too much attention to what was happening in the sand.  
The guards removed the sword from the man and passed it to the next in line, a woman, who killed him by cutting his throat with great difficulty. Then they disarmed her and it was the turn of the next man, who tried to pierce the woman's heart. It took him a dozen blows to get it with that blunt sword.  
I looked at the row of chained men. There would be about twenty prisoners, young and old, women and men. All were dragging their feet with their shoulders drooping, except for a giganton who stood upright looking around with empty eyes. Even from the bleachers I could see the marks of the whip on his naked back.  
-Father, when will Creyback come out? -Bellatrix insisted. I can't wait to see what he does with that Gilderoy.  
The guards handed the sword to the scarred man, who held it for a moment between his chained hands and wielded it in the air. He killed the prisoner who preceded him with an accurate cut, without having to strike several times like the others. I felt a chill.  
The guard was ready to remove the weapon, but the man with the scars took a step back, wielding his sword in front of him. The guard extended his impatient arm, and then the spectacle began.

HELENA

I watched from my place as the guard tried to snatch his sword.  
The giant remained with his legs apart on the burning sand, I was afraid... a sudden shiver ran through my body, I didn't know for sure what it was, but I knew that something would happen later....  
All this time I tried to keep my head as low as possible, only listening to the screams, both triumphal and heartbreaking, if my uncle wanted to torture me, at this very moment I felt so self-conscious to try to avoid the inevitable, but the first part passed and I considered a just moment to relax; but at the very moment when my eyes rested in that scene, I felt a certain restlessness...oh, Vesta, what is going on...you would show me  
The guard screamed as the stream of blood shone in the midday sun. His companions rushed over.  
I shuddered... oh, no, that man... had to stop now.  
He lunged at the first guard with a wild energy. The swords collided, producing a high-pitched squeak. Every muscle in his body moved and bent like a precision bow. I saw the sudden look of fear in the eyes of the guard as he felt the strength of his opponent on the other side of the sword. These Romans, with their tufts, their pride and their shining hearts, did not imagine that a slave could be so strong. With two thrusts, he reduced the guard to a pile of meat writhing on the sand.  
More Romans came, with brightly colored feathered crests. A guard fell dejected, screaming watery as the blunt iron pierced his thigh.  
He lunged for another armor. The sword penetrated the armor cleanly. Another shield fell, another scream.  
The edge of a sword penetrated their flesh and turned ready to crush their opponent. He split the guard in two.  
The sky began to spin and turned white when it received a blow to the back of the neck. Staggering, he turned and lifted his sword, as a guard stamped the tip of his shield on his elbow. The blade slipped from his hands and fell to his knees. He was struck in the skull with the hilt of a sword. The soldiers kicked his sides with their huge boots.  
A vast and inhuman roar, like the roar of the sea resounded from that throat. Spectators, thousands of them, crowded row after row in the stands. Senators in their purple-edged robes, midwives in bright silk stolae, priests in their white robes... Lots of them. Everyone applauded, the huge amphitheatre burst into applause.  
His eyes, inquisitive, stunned and desperate, turned to the imperial box. I was close enough to distinguish her and every member there, from me, who looked with astonishment at the emerald gaze assessing us. Close enough to see the emperor, his purple cloak, his entertaining gaze. Close enough to see his hand rising indolently.  
The emperor reached out with a gesture of clemency.  
Vesta, it seems that my uncle has found another entertainment in his way of living, so thirsty and at the same time fearful of blood... however, everything is going to change...

BELLATRIX

-It's called Albus Dumbledore, and it's terribly old...  
I was really indignant, my father just went to me announcing (not consulting me) that he had found the perfect big fish for me...well I had to admit that being a senator with his reputation the idea was almost perfect...almost. After this "beautiful" news I practically forgot about the wonderful emotion that the Coliseum caused me this afternoon, arriving home as badly annoyed as I shouldn't be, the only thing I wanted was to sleep and think.  
-Hermione, watch out for those pearls. They are worth three times what you cost.  
While she was preparing me to go to bed properly, I was trying to call her attention so that she would behave like everyone else around me, her face always parca and immutable annoyed me... but for some reason I was uncomfortable expressing it. Anyway, I must still be shocked by this day, although I did not have time to reflect on that banal fact, the truth was that it had been impressive, well, that would bring me more fun later.  
-Well, I don't think Emperor Tom is very handsome, but it's hard to tell from afar, isn't it? - I twisted the gesture when I saw a broken nail. We could already have a handsome and elegant emperor in place of those serious old men.  
She continued to strip me of my clothes with skillful hands plus a shaky touch, sometimes she deigned to approach the favor of answering other times no, sometimes she was gentle, other times cold... -Retreat. I don't need you anymore. You are quite clumsy tonight.  
-As you wish," she said in Greek, and after extinguishing his lamp with a blow he added, "bad starch.  
Trying to contain my nerves and especially my anger, I lay on my side.  
I heard a scream from my father, probably looking for it, from time to time I didn't know that eagerness I had for the whim of catching it, now at night was the best time to get rid of Hermione... the thought disgusted me, I turned around and tried to consiliar the dream, not to think about my commitment...

HELENA

Yesterday, Tom Marvolo Slytherin was nothing more than my uncle, a rough and rather strange man. Today, he is lord and God, Pontifex Maximus, emperor of Rome. Like my father and grandfather before him, he owns the world. And I am afraid.  
He says I will soon marry my cousin, Ignotus, and he has promised me to organize some magnificent games to celebrate it. I didn't dare tell him that I hate games, because I know he just pretends to be nice. He says the Empress will take care of my wedding dress. She was very pretty in her silver silk suit and diamonds, and it is said that she loves him madly. It is also said that she hates him. ..People love rumors.  
I stare at the flame, until it becomes two.  
I'm scared. I've always had it. From the shadows under the bed, from the shapes in the darkness, from the voices in the air...  
My uncle has seen a hundred people die today at the Coliseum, and has only saved one. He hates the rest of the family, but for me he has sympathy... I see his eyes in the dark...  
I know very well what he wants  
Vesta, goddess of earth and home, protect me. I need you.

HARRY  
A.D. 82

The atmosphere at the gladiator school on Mars Street was one of satisfaction, camaraderie and masculinity as the weary fighters stepped through its doors. Of the twenty fighters who had gone out to participate in the Ceres games, fourteen had returned alive. Because of such a good record, the victors walked proudly down the narrow, torch-lit corridor, leaving their armor in the baskets. "I pricked that Greek right in the gut, a work of art..." "Did you see how that Gaul broke Lapic's bastard's back? He won't stick his noses where they don't call him anymore!" "What bad luck Theseus had! He stumbled!"  
I put my feathered helmet in the basket, ignoring the slave who cheerfully congratulated me. The weapons, of course, had already been collected, as soon as the fight was over.  
-Your first fight? -asked a Thracian charlatan, throwing his helmet in the same basket as me. It was my first time too. That wasn't bad, was it?  
I ducked to untie the shin greaves.  
-You've done very well with that African," the thracian continued. I faced one of those rickety Greeks from the East... no problem. Let's see if next time it's against Greyback and I can finally make a fortune.  
I took off the mesh sleeve that protected my arm and left it in the basket, while the other gladiators went into the big dining room, where they sat between voices on the easel tables and grabbed the jugs of wine.  
-You're just a few words, aren't you? -said the Thracian, and gave me a friendly elbow. Where are you from? I came from Greece last year...  
-Shut up," I exclaimed in my poor Latin.  
-What?  
Moving away from the Thracian, I entered the dining room and, ignoring the tables with trays of bread and meat, I grabbed the first pitcher of wine I found and went to another narrow and poorly lit corridor.  
-Don't listen to him," I heard another wrestler say to the thracian. He's a bitter bastard.  
My room in the gladiators' barracks was a narrow, poor cell: stone walls, a chair, a straw mattress, and a candle of melted tallow. I sat on the floor, leaning my back against the wall, and emptied half a pitcher of long drinks. That cheap wine left a bitter aftertaste on my palate, but I didn't care. The Roman wine went up quickly to my head, and that's what I wanted.  
-Toe, toe! -He thundered a voice behind the door. Aren't you asleep now, dear?  
-Go to hell, Alastor!  
-Well, is that how you treat your lanista, your friend?  
Alastor entered my cell. Chubby and rosy cheeks, he wore an immaculate white robe, gold rings on all his fingers and the curls of his hair smeared with magnolia oil. He was accompanied by a slender mancebo dressed in silk. Alastor was the owner of the school of gladiators on Mars Street.  
I let out an obscenity and Alastor laughed:  
-No, no, nothing like that. I just came to congratulate you on your great debut. What a way to rip that African's head off! What a drama! I must admit that you surprised me a little. So much dedication and so much brutality in someone that an hour before the fight I swore that I wasn't going to go out and fight.  
I had another drink of wine.  
-Well, I'm glad I got it right. As soon as I saw you, I knew you had great potential. Of course, you're a little old for the sand. By the way, how old are you? Twenty-five? Thirty? You're not young, but you have a certain charm.  
Rooster waved his silver perfumer languidly before my attentive gaze  
-In the next games you'll have another fight, something bigger and more important, if I can convince Rebastan Lestrange. With a bit of luck, an individual fight. And this time I hope I don't have to worry about your performance, right? -said the lanista, giving me a sharp look.  
I posed the jug of wine by the wall.  
-What is a rudius? -I asked without taking my eyes off the jug.  
-A rudius? -Beaver blinked in surprise. Dear, where have you heard of this?  
I shrugged. When, nervous and excited, they waited their turn to go out and fight in the darkness of the galleries of the Colosseum, a gladiator had commented: "I wish they would give us all a rudius". Five minutes later, he died pierced by a trident, before I could ask him what that meant.  
-The rudius is a legend," said Alastor, downplaying the importance of the matter. A wooden sword that the emperor gives to the gladiator to grant him freedom. I think it's only happened to a couple of sand stars, but it's not your case, is it? You have only participated in one combat, not even individually. You have a long way to go before you become one of the greats, and much more for a star.  
I shrugged.  
-How tender you are! -Alastor mocked. Then he approached me and put his hand on my arm.  
The lanista's chubby fingers pinched forcefully as his only eye stuck into me with a brilliant curiosity.  
I took the candle by his side and slowly dropped hot wax on that soft, well-kept hand.  
He put his fingers away, sighed, and added:  
-We're going to have to do something with your manners. Good night, dear.  
As soon as he came out the door, I took the jug of wine, finished it, and threw it on the floor. I laid my head on the stones of the wall and the room stopped spinning around me. I hadn't had enough wine. I closed my eyes.  
I didn't want to fight. It was true what I had told Alastor in the dark gallery beneath the Colosseum, as we listened to the roar of the crowd, the cries of the wounded, and the howls of the dying animals. But then they put a sword in my hand and pulled me out along with the other members of that spirited group that served as an aperitif for the masses before the individual combats. When I saw the African with whom I had fought, the dark demon that dwelt in my mind came out of its lethargy and joyfully walked the plain and straight path of death.  
Suddenly, without knowing very well how, I found myself under the blinding light of the sun, with the blood of another man on my face and the cheers falling on my head like a swarm of bees. Just thinking about those screams gave me cold sweats. The sand, that infernal circus, always ruined my hopes. Even by killing the guards, I had not managed to get killed. When, seven months ago, I woke up from the brutal beating of me by the soldiers in the Coliseum, I found myself in a bed. It was not a comfortable bed, for Alastor did not give luxuries to half-dead slaves. Dragging me with difficulty towards the light, I heard for the first time the hoarse and modulated voice of the lanista, who stank at the bottom.  
-Can you hear me, boy? Shake your head if you understand me. Good. What's your name?  
With a hoarse voice, I answered and Alastor chuckled.  
-Oh, that's so funny! You're British, aren't you? You barbarians have impossible names! It's no use to me; I'll call you Harry. He looks like Haddi, because of Haddingus, an odinic hero. It's catchy, it'll do us good. Look, I bought you, and you didn't exactly come cheap for me to be a half-dead bully. I know perfectly why you were condemned to die in the amphitheatre. You were part of a batch of prisoners repairing the Colosseum until you strangled a guard with his own whip. What a barbarity, boy! What were you thinking?  
He snapped his fingers and a young slave appeared with a tray of sweets. With his mouth full, he continued his interrogation:  
-But tell me, can you tell me how you ended up a prisoner in the Colosseum?  
-Salt mines," I replied with a dry mouth. In Trinovantia. Then in Gaul.  
-Poor me! How long had you been working in these infected wells?  
I shrugged. Fourteen years? I wasn't sure.  
-Clearly, it was a good season. That would explain those arms and that chest of yours," said Alastor, caressing my shoulders with his plump fingers..... I wanted to crush them. Going up and down salt rocks for years makes you a big man. But in the mines they don't teach you how to handle the sword. Where did you learn?  
I turned my face and looked at the wall.  
-Well, it doesn't matter. Listen: from now on, you will fight for me, wherever and whenever I tell you. I'm a lanista. Do you know what that is? Don't you? I see that your Latin is a little rough. Everything about you is a little rough, isn't it? A lanista, dear, is a trainer of gladiators. You're going to be a gladiator. It's not a bad life: women, wealth, fame... Right now you will take an oath and start training as soon as your bones are welded. Repeat with me: "I accept to be burned by fire, bound with chains, scourged with sticks and killed with iron". It's the gladiator's oath, boy.  
I rudely answered what I could do with my oath, and plunged back into darkness.  
It took me days to get out of bed, and weeks passed before my bones recovered. After that, it took me almost five months to complete my training in the gladiators' yard. My companions were petty thieves and stunned slaves, taken from the worst of the market: a handful of remaining trinkets. I indifferently followed the school routine and became another bully with Alastor's crossed swords tattooed on my arm. Better than mines.  
Rudius, I thought often. It sounded like a snake, not a wooden sword. I did not understand how receiving a wooden sword from the emperor could turn you into a free man, but the mountains of my home, enveloped in mist, arose in my imagination, fresh, green and beautiful.  
A wooden sword. Every day, in training, I used wooden swords. I always broke them with the force of my thrusts. An omen? I remembered the white robed druids of my childhood, who smelled of mistletoe and old bones and read the gods on every fallen leaf. They said that breaking a wooden sword brought bad luck. Anyway, I had never had many good omens in my life.  
I took away from my mind the memory of my homeland. The school on Mars Street was not bad. I did not have the women or the wealth promised by Alastor, but at least I was not under an inclement sun with chains devouring the flesh of my ankles, and I did not have to sleep on bare hillsides. Here I had blankets, bread during the day, wine to endure the nights and the possibility of a quick death just around the corner. Much better than mines. There was nothing worse than mines.  
The applause of the spectators, annoyed, came back to my mind.

ALBUS 

It was something unusual, his mahogany eyes with amber spots had a pispireto touch but at the same time cunning. I had been divorced for ten years, and soon that would change...this little slave has taken care of me since I arrived at the destined mansion. I had been four times consul and was the natural grandson of Emperor Godric Gryffindor, I served myself wine and ordered my books like any commoner widower. This girl gave me my space without having to tell her... sensing my discomfort to the slaves.  
-What's your name, girl? -I asked her, while I offered her a drop of lemon.  
-Hermione, sir.  
-A Greek name -comenté.-. But I don't think you're Greek. You lengthen your vowels a little, and the shape of your eyes betrays you. Maybe you're from Antioch, although I'd bet you're Hebrew.  
She gave me the reason with a smile, taking away a word that I had trouble admitting, I didn't know. Knowledge...I sighed of irony, I was known for that, intellectuality The great Albus Dumbledore, I thought, with a teenage and pretentious girlfriend.  
-Senator! -exclaimed Bellatrix, who appeared hopping, exultant and precious, wearing a cornaline silk tunic and coral necklaces and bracelets. She was already 18 years old, I still understood... although advanced marriageable age, without a doubt the wet dream of any praetor. -How soon have you arrived! Do you feel like watching the games?  
-I admit that the show arouses a certain interest in me," I said as I sat up to kiss his hand, "although I generally prefer my library.  
-Well, you'll have to change your tastes, because I love games.  
-Like father, like daughter, -I commented, making a gesture of complicity to Lestrange.  
Bella's father surrounded her eyes with a slight disdain which I preferred to ignore... I knew perfectly what he thought of me and what I was looking for, whether or not I was happy with this marriage... well, he accepted this situation.  
-Is it true that you know the emperor's niece? -asked Bella as soon as we left the Lestrange mansion and ventured into the streets under the April sun. Her hazel eyes gleamed with admiration. -Helena?  
-Yes, since I was a little girl," I replied with a smile. "She and her step-sister played with my step-son as children. They haven't seen each other since (Draco is now in the Pretorian Guard), but I still visit Helena from time to time. She has been having a hard time since her father died.  
The day of the wedding between Helena and her cousin Ignotus Peverell Slytherin dawned clear and blue. We went to see how they joined their hands in the temple. We were on foot, because the bunk beds could not move through the crowd. We were almost pushed by rough craftsmen and curious women, while beggars tried to slip their hands into the purses. A baker in a flour-stained apron stepped on the slave's foot on my left side and lost his balance. I held her by the arm with agility, preventing her from hitting the ground on her face.  
-Be careful, girl.  
-Thank you, sir," she said, her bright eyes and exotic mahogany espressive, plus her expression-free face.  
-Oh, look! -Bellatrix exclaimed, letting go of my arm and elbowing his way to the first row. There they are! Look! In the temple of Juno, the goddess of marriage, we saw a young man with pink cheeks next to the priest. The one who would be the bridegroom. He seemed happy, as he joked with his helpers tapping on each other's comradeship.  
-How handsome he is! -exclaimed my fiancée.- A little rough, though, don't you think?  
Well, that was funny.  
-The members of the Slytherin dynasty have a certain tendency towards that characteristic," I commented slightly. A family trait.  
-Well, it's not really coarse... just something strong.  
The sound of imperial trumpets deafened us for a few seconds. Servants with the imperial livery began to parade in haste. The Pretorian Guard, armed with their ceremonial breastplates and red plumes, opened a corridor to make way for the bride.  
-Is that Helena? -Bellatrix asked, and stretched her neck.  
I studied restraint on the woman I had become. She was tall, had wavy jet hair, and her figure was slim but a little thin... The brand new red bride's veil hid her face. Her pale lips smiled, but she did not look like... bride. I knew that behind that veil was a girl fearful of the world, I thought sadly  
I heard Bella say something again, but it seemed like she was whispering, because I couldn't hear it.  
The bridal couple joined hands in the temple, pronouncing the ritual words: Quando tu Ignotus, ego Gaia. They exchanged the wedding cake and the rings. The marriage contracts were signed and the priest intoned the prayers. The blood of an imposing white bull was shed on the marble stairs in sacrifice to Juno. Imperial weddings were usually celebrated with more privacy, but Emperor Tom adored pomp and public festivities, as did the masses.  
I heard my fiancée mumble something again... I got lost in my thoughts.  
Before the wedding procession, the bridegroom had to snatch the bride from her mother's arms in a symbolic robbery. Helena's mother was dead, so her uncle, the emperor, took her place. The girl covered her black hair with the red veil and offered herself submissive to the groom, who pulled both arms out of her. I turned my eyes to the emperor. His gold embroidered cape and golden crown shone with the reflection of the sun's rays.  
I watched her niece, already in the arms of her new husband. Her eyes scanned the audience and, for a moment, they stuck insistently to my (someone's) left side...Before looking down on the floor, Helena Slytherin Ravenclaw felt lost, scared and alone.  
-Well, that's it," said Lestrange, and patted us to our feet. Let's go to the amphitheater. The first show will be magnificent, I assure you. I bought a dozen strange horses with stripes from an African merchant. He calls them zebras.  
At my suggestion, we rented a bunk and cut through Mars Street. The slaves were on foot, running after us.  
Lestrange was still bragging about how skillful he had been in acquiring twenty Indian tigers at a bargain price, when the bunk was forced to stop. A huge cart with iron cages locked with locks blocked the way, followed by another bunk carried on shoulders by six blonde-haired Greeks. While we waited, a door with bars like those of the prisons was opened and a group of men came out in formation. The armor shone beneath its purple layers. They got into the car, their faces dark under their hooves. They were gladiators on their way to the Coliseum.  
-Alastor's gladiators," Lestrange told us with a frown as he drew the curtains to observe better. -They are all third class, but they serve as bait for the lions. And, if you hurry me, so will Alastor himself. Look at him, in his bunk.  
A fat man with a fringe of curls smeared in oil peeked out of the orange silk curtains to scream:  
-We're late because of you, dear!  
Through the door of Alastor's school appeared a huge, brown man. A Gaul or a Briton. He wore heavy iron greaves on his shins, a green skirt and an absurd helmet with feathers of the same colour. His arm was protected by a mesh sleeve held in place by leather straps that pierced his bare chest and his back full of scars. His face was as impassive as granite. I recognized him.  
He was the slave who had defended himself in the games in honor of the emperor's coronation a few months ago. After the emperor saved his life, they had to take him out hooked to a hook like they did with dead lions. But he was still alive. He had returned, and he was a gladiator.  
-Hurry up, Harry," the lanista called him from the bunk. We're blocking the street.  
The giant grabbed the edge of the cart and jumped into it. So his name was Harry.

HARRY

The underground of the Colosseum was full of activity like the pipes of a water aqueduct. Numerous slaves walked the passageways illuminated by torches, some carrying stones to sharpen weapons, others with pointed lances to incite animals before releasing them into the sand, others with huge rakes to collect the dead... There was the cry of a lion, or perhaps of a dying man.  
-The main fight is in two hours," grunted an organizer to Alastor as a greeting, glancing at his gladiators. —. Keep them in a corner until then. What's the Brit? He'll come out as soon as the tigers finish off those prisoners.  
Alastor gave orders and I ended up in a dark passage. The spring heat never reached the bowels of the Colosseum. The passages were cold and humid. The ground was covered with clay dust, which rose with the vibrations produced by the roars of the public over our heads.  
A pulley elevator lifted me up to the upper levels. Once there, a slave led me to a door and hurriedly handed me a sword and a heavy shield.  
-Good luck, gladiator.  
I waited, running a finger over the edge of the blade. In the darkness, I saw a wooden sword.  
The applause faded. In the distance, I heard the voice of the presenter of the games: "And now... savages of Britain.... We bring you... Harry the barbarian... in the role of...".  
With a metallic noise of the machinery, the enormous gate was descending. A blinding light flooded the passageway.  
"Achilles, the greatest warrior in the world! »  
As soon as it came into the sunlight, the roar of ovations hit me as if it had hit a wall. Fifty thousand voices shouted my name, forming a blurred mass of shining silks and white robes; the pale circles were the faces, and the dark ones were the mouths; all under a roof of shining blue. I had never seen so many people together in my life.  
I found myself looking at the bleachers and quickly lowered the visor of my helmet. I didn't care who Achilles was or what role he was supposed to play. To kill was to kill.  
The demon unscrewed inside me.  
Again the voice of the presenter sounded, silencing the ovation:  
-And now, from the wild Amazon, we bring you some opponents worthy of the stature of the great hero Achilles...  
The gate at the other end of the sand rumbled. I ripped off my cloak and lifted my sword, flexing my knees.  
-The Queen of the Amazons and her warriors!  
My sword wavered. Women! Five women in golden helmets with feather tufts, crescent-shaped shields and gold anklets. They wore bare breasts, for the greater enjoyment of the public, and wielded thin, gleaming swords as they clenched their teeth.  
The rage of the demon within me died out, leaving me cold and trembling. I lowered the sword until the tip touched the ground.  
The leader of the group, with her red plume, let out a kestrel cry and threw herself at me.  
-Oh, damn! -I exclaimed, and articulated the sword.  
I took them out one by one. First the youngest, who was not more than fourteen years old and who attacked me with more desperation than skill. I killed her fast. Then the black-haired one with a birthmark on her shoulder. I ripped the sword from her hands, turning away her eyes as I pierced her with my weapon. It seemed to me that each blow lasted a century.  
At slow speed, I saw the leader screaming, trying to group her fighters. I knew what was being done. If they loaded together, they would have a chance of knocking me down. But they were scared and separated. And, for the greater enjoyment of the crowd, I chased them one by one to finish them all off.  
I tried to do it as fast as I could.  
The boss, with her plume of silver feathers, was the last. She went into battle, slowing me down again and again with her small shield. His sword landed several times against mine. His eyes seemed huge and wild behind the helmet visor.  
I managed to tear off his sword in one blow and threw my shield against the unprotected chest of the Amazon. Her neck arched, agonizing, and fell into the sand like a broken clay figurine.  
She wasn't dead yet. Her ribs were broken and she choked on her own blood. Tired of all that, I advanced a step ready to cut his throat.  
-Mitte! Mitte!  
The scream echoed in my ears, and I looked up in surprise. Along the bleachers, the thumbs of the audience begged for mercy. Well-meaning cries and a unanimous opinion: clemency for the last Amazon.  
My eyes burned and I was drenched in sweat. I threw the sword to the ground and knelt down to pass an arm under the shoulders of the woman, who was bleeding everywhere.  
The amazon looked at me with her weak eyes. She stretched out a trembling hand to pull up her visor. My whole body trembled when I heard the woman speaking to me in a language that I hadn't heard for twelve years... my own language.  
-Please," she moaned.  
I looked at her. The woman choked again on her own blood.  
-Please.  
I saw her eyes big and desperate.  
-Please.  
I pulled the woman's hair away and she turned her head to expose her long neck. She closed her eyes and breathed a relieved sigh. Gently, I stuck my sword in the veins below the jaw.  
When the shattered body of the Amazon was cold in my arms, I looked up. The audience remained silent. I sat up, stained with her blood and overwhelmed by thousands of stupefied glances.  
The demon inside me woke up furious and, with all my strength, I began to sword against the marble wall. I hit non-stop, feeling my back muscles breaking, until the sword split in two with a crack. I threw the two pieces away, spitting, and ripped off my helmet and threw it away too. The rage accumulated in my throat and I shouted. It wasn't an oath, just a long roar.  
The audience began to applaud.  
They were clapping.  
They cheered at me; they shouted my name; they released exclamations of admiration that fell on my head like a rain; they threw coins and flowers at me; they stood up and shouted my name; they kicked the marble steps with their feet.  
Then I burst into tears, alone in the middle of the sand, surrounded by the corpses of five women as thousands of rose petals fell from the heights.

BELLATRIX

-It's really impressive. -I said sleepy, don't you think so?  
She muttered an answer as he opened the jar of rose oil. I was lying face down on the green marble of the massage table in one of the bathrooms of the house. Receiving meticulous and stimulating attention amidst mosaics of fish and the pile of brightly coloured perfume bottles.  
-Seriously, I've never seen anything like him. It's much more interesting than Greyback, which for my taste is too refined. Harry, on the other hand, is a real barbarian," I commented, stretching one arm so he could spread rose oil on his side. There's something wild about him, isn't there? No civilized being would kill women. But this Harry tore the Amazons to shreds without a second thought.  
I felt his skillful fingers smile at the spine and arched the back of pleasure.  
-He even looks like a savage. He was covered in blood and seemed not to notice. But a real warrior shouldn't worry about getting his hands dirty, should you? Greyback doesn't even go near his opponents anymore. He fights at a distance, lest his well-groomed beard be stained with blood. What spectacle is that? I don't go to the games to see a squeamish man. I want to see exciting fights and dedicated fighters.  
While I was talking, I was realizing that she was ignoring myself, it was always like that, as if in a certain time she got bored of contributing to the conversation. As if she was looking for any freedom, no matter how minimal and stupid... how comical.  
-And how he left the sand in silence, ignoring the ovation! It's clear that he doesn't care about applause, he does it because he likes it - I added, and I stretched my arms languidly above my head. -Do you think he's handsome, Hermione?  
-I don't know, my lady. Would you like me to pass the pumice stone over your feet?  
-Yes, and do it with enthusiasm." I mocked with a smile, "These rough guys are attractive to girls with lower tastes.  
-And is your fiancé attractive to my lady?  
-Albus?" he laughed. Do you know he's forty-six? His son is my age! To be honest, I don't know why I can't marry the son. What's the use of being young and hot if everything is going to be for a boring old man with a hump? He won't stop talking about his books, as if I give a damn about his stupid library. -If it's the best father can find me, he'll have to try harder. I want someone young and exciting. A real man.  
I played with a lock of my hair and asked him:  
-How do you think Harry will be in person? -The truth is that this guy had stirred something in my bowels and I didn't lose anything by satiating my curiosity.  
I felt the hands on my feet hesitating slightly, I raised my eyes and I found her jaw tense, more like a blink vanished questioning its veracity.

HARRY

-Congratulations, barbarian!  
-What a spectacle!  
-You didn't do anything wrong... Hey, where are you going?  
I crossed the dining room of the school on Mars Street without looking to the sides. I reluctantly threw my cape on the pile, leaned over the table and picked up a pitcher of wine.  
-Hey, that's for everybody.  
I drank directly from the pitcher, swallowing without thirst. The other wrestlers, who were falling apart in praise and envy, became silent.  
I threw back my back and placed a hand under my mouth to prevent even a drop of bitter wine from falling to the ground. When I emptied the jug, I contemplated it for a few moments, rocking it from the handle with one finger. Then I took a step back and threw it against the wall. The other wrestlers took oaths, moving aside to dodge the bounced pieces of pottery.  
-Fucking barbarian! -a Gaul muttered.  
I turned and threw a quick kick at the stool on which the Gaul sat, who shouted when he noticed that he was losing his balance and falling to the ground. His shrieking became louder when I grabbed a knife from the table and slanted a piece of his ear after he threw himself like a bull over me. We both rolled on the floor in a tangle of blows. The gladiators formed a circle around us, shouting:  
-Poke it! Cut it down!  
-Kill that bastard!  
-THAT'S ENOUGH! -Alastor shouted from the door.  
The gladiators retreated. The Gaul, bleeding from the side of his head, let go and fell to his knees, swearing in his language. I rose in silence, rubbing my hands and looking coldly.  
-Very well, very well," he said. Congratulations, dear. You are living up to your name. In the streets they already call you "the Barbarian".  
The Gaul looked at him in anger and protested:  
-He cut off my ear!  
-Stop whining and go to the infirmary," ordered Gallo, without taking his eyes off me. Don't make a fuss, and next time I'll get you a big fight. Something really big to close the spring season, before summer training.  
I picked up another jug of wine without taking my eyes off the lanista. I gave a long drink and spit it out with precision between the feet sheathed in elegant Alastor sandals. Then I turned around and headed for my cell. 

BELLATRIX

June. The sun burned like a brass coin and the streets reverberated like water. June, odious and humid.  
The city was bursting with activity, plunged into a last round of frantic energy as wealthy citizens prepared to leave for their cool summer residences. People eagerly awaited the games of Matralia, an exciting and bloody spectacle that would put an end to the season. Patricians, politicians, chariots, courtiers and commoners, all alike, commented on the same rumor: as a climax to the party, the great Greyback would face a new fighter on the rise, a Briton by the name of Harry, whom the people dubbed "the Barbarian".  
-It was all thanks to me," I said. -I convinced my father to pair them up. The odds are five against one for Harry.  
-How optimistic! -said Hermione.  
-I know," I agreed.- Wouldn't it be fun to watch the Barbarian die like a brave man? I wonder if father will think of organizing a gala dinner for the gladiators the day before.  
Of course, my father thought so, especially after I told him that any party with Harry and Greyback as guest stars would attract high-class diners.  
-And I'll go too," I added, playing with my black spins.- I will sit next to you, Father, so that you may protect me if things get... Well, violent. I know there will be a lot of brute men, but there will also be Charlus Borgin and Caractacus Burke.... Very important families! Who knows? Maybe someone is interested in me so I won't have to marry that boring old man from Albus Dumbledore, and we'll both be happy... Please...  
The whole mansion went into a whirlwind of activity. The kitchen was running until the early hours of the morning, preparing a menu according to the patrician guests who were expected, as well as for the gladiators, who might be taking their last meal. The silver inlaid tricliniums were adorned with sumptuous fabrics, and the tables were adorned with out-of-season flowers, so that all guests, from the noblest patrician to the lowest gladiator, would appreciate our fortune. When night fell, I was on edge with the unknown of what my ideal outfit would be, after several tests and slaps against Hermione...at last I finished.  
-It's not bad," I stumbled in front of the burnished steel mirror, bowing my head. -No, it's not bad at all.  
A sapphire blue silk was gracefully moulded to my voluptuous body. The movement of my hips made the gold bells on my ankles tinkle. The pearls shone in my ears and around my neck. My mouth was painted a lewd red. I glanced at Hermione's vast, horrible brown robe, doing little or nothing to favor her curves if she had any, she smoothed my silk several times and stroked my hair, I looked at her...it was bushy and fluffy, as exotic as her eyes.  
-By "God" Hermione - I mocked while I was adjusting the bracelet of carved gold. -Worthy of being still a virgin. I don't remember seeing anything less attractive.  
Contrary to what one might expect, she gave me a big little girl's smile-O lady, at my age and above all circumstances that's a big deal-she bowed her head in gratitude.  
I chuckled low, -I think- with a slight complicity, and I left my room...When I came out of my slight trance, I shook my head and applied myself to observing my surroundings, putting my best predatory attitude. I saw a larger crowd than usually gathered at our parties: a couple of senators, the emperor's personal chamberlain and Cho Chang, cousin of the empress and hostess of Rome's best parties. With their bright silk robes, they reclined between the flowers and the cushions, tasting roasted elephant ears, ostrich wings and flamenco tongues served on gold plates, without stopping chatting with that patrician accent that my father (to my shame) never managed to imitate. The only discordant note in that funny company was the presence of the muscular gladiators full of scars. Dark wool among so much silk, vulgar dialects among so much refined pronunciation, vultures among so many peacocks... But we found it amusing. The next day those powerful men would give us a great show and fun, and they in turn would gain some fame if they died with grace The next day who knows if we see them again, so we took full advantage of them, asked them and talked about anything that happened breasts of their life or attack techniques ... in how many women ... we had the opportunity to satisfy our secret desires to the rough.  
On the bed of honor, where everyone could see them, were Harry and Greyback. "Oh, yes, the Barbarian," Greyback had said reluctantly when they were introduced, offering him a careful hand as a greeting. Harry looked at it until he withdrew it. "How peculiar," Greyback whispered to a smiling patrician beside him. "Will he be able to speak?" Sitting together in the same triclinium, the two ignored each other.  
It was impossible not to compare them. Greyback, smiling and joking; Harry, bitter and uncomfortable. Greyback, delicately chopping each dish; Harry, devouring whatever was put in front of him. Greyback, lying on the silk cushions as if he had been born for it; Harry, rigid as a statue. Greyback, the civilized; Harry, the Barbarian.  
I adjusted my cleavage and headed for my prey.  
As I approached, I was noticing the huge, stiff muscles like the steel in his arm.  
-You're very brave playing your life on the sand day after day," I said as I approached his triclinium and brushed his arms with a fingernail.- Aren't you ever afraid? It must be terrifying.  
-Yes," he replied.  
-Wow, a word," I said with a giggle. We're making progress.  
He took the jug of wine, ignoring me (trying, of course).  
-Don't be angry with me," I said in a sweet voice, and reclined so that I could admire the curve of my breasts under the blue silk.  
He was going to tell me something, when the music of the flutists sounded. The guests left the triclinium and went to the gardens. The senators took women by the arm (who were not their wives) with whom they discreetly made their way to the moonlit corridors of the greenhouse. The gladiators, for their part, rudely grabbed young slaves and took them to the privacy of the night. The great Greyback disappeared behind a statue of Neptune next to a distinguished Burke matron.  
-Would you like to go for a walk in the gardens? Don't worry about my father, he's busy making deals with your lanista. -My tongue poked out between my lips.- Harry let me get him out of that stupid bed, stopping only to grab a pitcher of wine. I held him by the elbow, and led him down a gravel track away from the house. The smell of jasmine and roses was present.  
-Tell me," I said with a smile, "where did you come from? I'm curious to know.  
-From nowhere, he dominates.  
-Everyone comes from somewhere.  
-Isn't that your father? -he asked, and pointed behind his back.  
I'll tell myself to look and Harry let go of my arm and threw himself into the bushes.  
-Harry!  
I stretched out my head to find him...what the hell was that? After half an hour of looking all over the garden I got tired.  
Quite angry about the situation I went to my room and there I let out some tears of rage. Hermione had been hiding for a long time during the party, but she always had a definite schedule to attend to me... and she still didn't show up, I didn't care. Half taking off my dress and lying on the bed I set out to calm down and sort out my thoughts...surely that brute had lay down somewhere because of all the wine that he choked on, yes, surely it was too brute...there would be another chance...if the damned man didn't die.


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aquí el segundo

The next day, after the long night I spent thinking to the dismay of...a certain person, I watched as the barbarian killed Greyback.  
It was something brutal, of those fights that turn your stomach upside down, unforgettable. Harry went out into the quiet sand, dwarfed by the ostentation and feathered elegance of his opponent, and then launched such a savage attack that my knees trembled in the stands. Greyback's smile disappeared when he wounded his shoulder. He tried to fight masterfully, but it wasn't enough. Harry's sword took the top of his shield, made a deep cut in his ribs, and ripped half the fingers out of his left hand. The grace of Greyback's dancer was plucked piece by piece, reduced to pure desperation, and that was not enough either. He staggered with a broken, bleeding body and died under Harry's sword.  
The Coliseum rose to its feet in jubilation, kicking the ground for him as it had a week earlier for the shattered body on the ground. They shouted, shrieked, cried, removed the gold from their fingers and the silver from their wrists and threw them at the lonely figure standing in the sand. The men wiped the tears from their eyes, swearing that he was the god of war who came to earth to walk among men. The women tore their stolae to show their breasts, promising between sobs that they would love him forever. In the imperial box, the emperor nodded happily. Harry threw the sword into the sand, and everyone expressed their love for him.  
Was he sad, in the midst of so much glory? No one could believe it.

Every time I look in the mirror I realize that the goddess Fortune is on my side.  
I arranged myself in detail: a lilac silk stola to highlight my black hair, a pair of amethysts in each hand to adorn my delicate fingers, quartz crystals set in silver thread around the neck to highlight their length. It looked gorgeous, but I had to spoil the whole effect with a horrible brown coat.  
-I won't wear that," I protested, wrinkling my nose when she brought me a basket. -My lady, slaves carry baskets when they go to the forum," she replied, and I grudgingly caught her, looking at myself in the mirror again. At least no one would recognize the Bellatrix Lestrange when she entered the gladiators' barracks in disguise.  
-Get behind me-I whispered to Hermione when I saw her reaching me.  
-When they go to the forum, the slaves do not walk one after the other," said Hermione, impassive. They go together.  
This damned bitch never smiled, but she could feel his sniggering, as always. I took a breath and squeezed in, leaving behind the elegant streets of marble villas in the direction of the sordid district of Subura, where the gladiator schools were located. Even on a warm summer day like that, Mars Street was an unpleasant place.  
A scented slave asked me to wait in the antechamber. I gestured to Hermione, who gave him an ace of copper to let me pass. Nobody makes Bellatrix Lestrange wait! They led me to a small room with a table behind which sat the obese lanista, who at that moment was releasing a diatribe to his fighter:  
-...messing with your followers, pulling jugs of wine at the head of your admirers when they ask you for a lock of souvenir hair, throwing young drunken patricians into the Tiber when they challenge you to a fight?  
Harry sat on a bench on the wall, with a jug of wine in one hand and his head thrown back. He drank a long drink with his eyes closed and I held my breath at the sight of his arms. Strong, dark, muscular, scarred...  
-I don't object to granting you certain privileges, boy," continued Alastor, unaware of my presence. Some money of your own, that you go out at night... But you have to behave, and...  
I cleared my throat, and Alastor gave me an angry look.  
-Young lady, have you been sent to bring a present? Leave it there.  
-I am Bellatrix Lestrange," I said. I took off my hood and showed off my precious rings. Maybe it will bring a present, we'll see.  
I glanced sidelong at the Barbarian, who gave me another glass of wine without looking at me. He would be dazzled, I'm sure. Alastor stood up at once and bowed to me. He offered me a chair and sent a slave to pick up my cape. His eyes analyzed me, surely comparing my features with those of my father, and then he continued to observe me with great interest.  
-It's very hot in here. Hermione, my fan," I said as I wiped my forehead.  
She stepped forward to give me my peacock feather fan. At that moment, the Barbarian looked up, not missing a detail, until Hermione returned to the corner, he turned his interest away again. I reclined gracefully, dropping my palla a little so that I could admire my white shoulders.  
-Aren't you going to say good morning to me, Barbarian?  
Alastor gestured and Harry shrugged and said:  
-Good morning.  
-I see that you have already had other visits," I commented, and I had a look at the gifts of admirers that filled the room: silver trays, a layer of wool from Miletus, a sheath of carved sword...-. My father sent the falerno wine. I noticed during dinner that it was to your liking. A very select palate for a barbarian.  
-Wine is wine... -Harry commented after another gesture by Alastor.  
-Anyway, I've come to say goodbye," I said, showing my bracelets in a carefree gesture. Tomorrow I'm going to Tivoli. I've learned that you don't fight until the autumn, so I'll escape the heat.  
-Very good idea, Bellatrix dominates," said Alastor, offering me a dish of candied pears. It's not worth wearing the Barbarian down in the summer games, is it? They're second-rate festivals, with the emperor out of town... But in September come the Ludí Romani.  
-Excellent," I said, and took three pieces of fruit to my mouth. Do you want me to get you a first-class seat in the Ludi Romani, Barbarian?  
Alastor elbowed him. Harry looked at me without blinking, and I felt a chill. What a granite face! Someday I'd see her split in two.  
-Of course she'd like it, Bellatrix," Alastor politely intervened. That's very kind of you.  
I could barely look at him. Harry crossed his sunburned arms and I imagined he was surrounding me with them. Would he hurt me? I'm sure he would.  
-You're welcome," I replied to Alastor. Of course, if he wants to thank me, let him send a message to my father's house in Tivoli. Hermione, my cape.  
Hermione took a step forward. Before the door closed, Alastor was already reprimanding him:  
-She does with her father what she wants, so you'd better be polite to her next time....  
I smiled when we came out in the morning sun.-Excellent," I said. -It's a pity we're going to Tivoli, but maybe it's better that way. Alastor will not let him fight in the summer games so that the emperor and the public will be anxious to see him in the autumn. Just as he will be anxious to see me.  
-Yes, ma'am.  
-He wants me, you know? He says nothing, but has he ever spoken to a woman? I don't think so. Only with whores and slaves like you. Oh, by the way," I added, just as we crossed the end of the forum back home, dodging the noisy vendors with their wooden trays, "I'm not taking you with me to Tivoli.  
-Ma'am?  
-I have decided to take Hanna. She's enough for me to comb my hair and bring me breakfast. You can stay here and run a few errands for me. Let's just say I don't want Harry to forget me," I said, smiling wickedly. Hermioe's sphinx face remained impassive. Sometimes I would also see that face split in two, no, rather humiliated but bowed before me. -You don't mind seeing him again, do you? And now, walk behind me.

HARRY

-My services are very expensive," she said as a presentation, "but I will do it to you for free.  
I recognized the blond curls, the soft powdered face, the frost-colored transparent dress. She was Fleur, one of the most exclusive courtesans in the city.  
-How did you get here?  
-Your lanista let me pass," she said, and lay beside me in bed, offering me a shining smile. I like gladiators.  
I pressed myself against the wall while she ran my arm with her soft hand.  
-Ma'am...  
-Call me Fleur," she said. She leaned over me and laid his hand on my knee. -You look nervous, Barbarian. Have you never been with a woman like me?  
I've never been with a woman before. I would have been able to confess it to another pair of eyes (exotic, rich... quiet as a warm sea), but not to those excited blinking blue eyes.  
-Tell me," Fleur added, and passed a knee over mine and caressed my thigh with his foot, "how do you barbarians make love?  
Make love!! How would I know if I had been carrying rocks in Roman mines since I was thirteen? I had seen the Romans do it, laughing, groaning and pushing, pulled by their friends as they put a knife down a woman's throat. I had seen it too many times. I knew how the Romans did it.  
Only once did I try to be with a woman, a prostitute who was in the mines, when I was fifteen, and I hurt him. I didn't want to, but the woman ran away. After that, she hadn't tried again.  
All my muscles contracted when a perfumed mouth with lipstick closed over mine.  
Stop, I said to myself, but I will grab the woman's shoulders.  
-You're hurting me," she protested, and looked at me with a smile that showed her gleaming teeth. You like to do it rough, don't you?  
I got up so fast that I threw her to the ground. I took her by the wrists and picked her up.  
Hurt her, the demon whispered, so do men.  
I threw her out of the room before she could open her mouth, kicking the door shut. I knelt before the wall, meshing my hair, as I listened to a string of curses on the other side of the door. I closed my eyes, burying my head between my crossed arms. I waited for my muscles to stop shaking, for my blood to stop circulating fast. I waited for the whispers of the demon within me to be reduced to a single word, simple, direct and comprehensible: Kill.  
Killing was something I could do. Killing was simple.

HERMIONE

My lady and her father left the next day in a caravan of chariots, slaves and silver bunk beds. I was free, free! My pearly skin burned under the July sun, the dust that rose in the streets flooded my lungs, the torrid nights gave me nightmares, but I was free. Without having to run after Bella with a fan or a handkerchief, nor receive the stab wounds of her tongue; without Rebastan harassing me with his trying to intercept me in a dark hallway; without work to do, since the strict butler of the house stopped controlling our entries and exits, and spent the whole day in the circus watching the chariot races. Lestrange's slaves took refuge in the taverns, the maidens went out to meet their lovers, and no one gave a damn what happened.  
In the evenings, when the purple light of the twilight refreshed the atmosphere, she went for a walk. I liked to sit on the hot stones of the corners listening to street musicians, I gave them my few coins to pay for the minutes of pleasure they offered me. I would even sneak into Marcelo's Theatre to listen to some famous actress performing Greek songs. I memorized her graceful gestures to practice in the garden withered by the heat of Lestrange's house. I remembered my mother's smile when she said to me: "When you grow up you will have a beautiful voice". Then I would remain silent and return to the inside of the mansion to take my blue nymph-decorated pot, because my mother was no longer by my side to sing lullabies to me and for years I felt guilty about it... Masada, my people, was loyal to their belief, that was their greatest characteristic; that's why as soon as it became known that the Romans had managed to tear down our wall, each and every one of the inhabitants of the city took their own lives, so that when their victory came, they would find nothing but corpses and treasures more valuable burned, of course, that was the idea. I never forget that day, so hot as today. I was 6 years old when everything happened, I picked flowers on the shore of the lake and watched my reflection in the water - you are divine, sweetie - they constantly reminded me, it was true, I suppose, since I arrived to the world I was euphoric for knowing my environment... perhaps God had entrusted me with something? I did not know, I only wanted to know his creation, as I had been told it was, and after growing up I went grabbing love to myself, convincing myself that someday I would know everything, and, why not, share my discoveries with all my loved ones, without a doubt, I was beautiful... I went trotting to my little house, I was silent, very much, I remembered that before I left my father had called my mother and they had locked themselves in her room. I heard a low sob...when I went to the sound, I was shocked at what I saw, father held my older sister in a hug while she died with a clean cut on her neck, he looked up and left my sister on the floor-come here, sweet Jane-said stretching his arm, I backed down...I couldn't, no. As I left the house like a whirlwind, I looked ... the city of blood ... each and every one of my acquaintances cried on the ground in curious positions The next day I saw these men, with their gowns and tufts looking at all that red spectacle; it was time, I couldn't...but I couldn't...and I couldn't.... Blood, that was the emblem of loyalty, I paid it every month since then. Because I shouldn't be here, knowing what I had accumulated so far, knowing that different cultures thought different from mine... wanting to permenecer.  
Of course, I saw Harry the Barbarian. His lanista showed him around the city as if he were a precious stallion: he dragged him to the theatre to watch comedies, to the Campo de Marte, where everyone walked to be seen, to the Circus Maximus to watch chariot races. Wherever he went, there was a fearful silence, people moved away with respect and then a murmur of conjecture was heard.  
-In the next fight it will fall," said some in the taverns. He beat Greyback by pure luck.  
-And the Amazons? -Their defenders protested.  
-Anyone can beat a bunch of women!  
-No, there's something special about it. Wait until the Ludi Romani arrive in September.  
And the disputes continued.  
Harry ignored his admirers as if they were shadows, and drank alone in taverns, even though hundreds of people would have wished for his company. His face began to appear everywhere. Poorly painted on the walls of wooden buildings around the Coliseum. In the alleys, my eyes were crossed with crude chalk inscriptions: "Harry the Barbarian, the whim of women. The salesmen proclaimed crude portraits hanging from shrieking ribbons. In the taverns he was invited for wine and the prostitutes offered him free of charge. Harry, a slave and a barbarian, a man who at death would be cut into pieces and given to the lions, instead of receiving a dignified burial to meet their gods. Lower than a sewer rat, but an important person. Their battles placated the masses when they raised their voices against the high imperial tributes; their presence excited the most boring patricians at parties, preventing them from conspiring; their blood was sold to epileptics as a cure for their attacks; brides fought because one of their spears broke their hair on their wedding day, which would guarantee a happy marriage.  
Of course, everything would vanish overnight as soon as he lost a fight. I wondered how long it would last.  
-Savages don't live very long," commented a critic, a legionnaire in his early years, posing a pitcher of beer on the table of a tavern where he had gone to sing. -The Barbarian is like those tribes I met in Britain. He gives everything in every stroke. But the savages always end up losing because they don't know how to control their head.  
That's right, I thought. Men who want to die usually get it. And it is well known that Fortune smiles at gladiators capriciously, but...  
I watched Harry walking around the forum: the icy rigidity of his shoulders, the way he stuck his iron fingers into his kidneys, and the fierce, impassive look he gave to his lanista, who walked beside him wagging proudly and sweating to the sea. But Harry's ferocity was always covered by a redundant layer of ice, a potent mixture that his admirers were delighted to drink. The ice never broke, but stories circulated about men the Barbarian had killed in street riots, taverns he had destroyed drunk in fits of rage, companions he had killed during training? A hopeful crowd swirled every day in front of the door of the gladiator school on Mars Street, hoping to see him.  
Yes, as long as he lived, as long as he held on, he would be at the top.  
"What's new in Rome," Bella asked me in a note, after a careless description of Tivoli's pleasant breeze and refreshing rains, of his success at the local festivities * of the shame he caused the girls there to pass by. I replied with a false account of Harry's sprees, naming each and every one of the fabulous beauties he had been offered his services for free, and including my personal opinion that I had tasted them all.  
Well, you don't shut up at all," she answered brusquely. Well, you'll have to start delivering these, one a week. And don't think I won't find out if you lose them."  
By "these" he meant a package of letters, written on expensive paper with Bellatrix's sloppy handwriting, sealed, perfumed and addressed to Harry the Gladiator. Helpful, I took one and headed for Mars Street.  
-Go," murmured Alastor, "Bellatrix's maid. Do you have a message from your lady? These ladies of the aristocracy and their little secrets! Don't worry, I'll leave you in private.  
She disappeared and I was left alone with the Barbarian. For a few moments, we remained silent, watching each other.  
-I have a letter from my mistress," I said dryly.  
-I can't read," said Harry and shrugged. -Just fight  
-I've been charged with reading it to you- clearing the letter and breaking the seal.  
Deer Harry," I read, "how sad it is here in Tivoli, without games. I can't wait to see the gladiator shows when I get back. I have persuded my father to find you a privileged place. I hope you will not forget me. Bellatrix Lestrange."  
I folded the letter and asked him:  
-Are you going to answer him?  
-No," he replied. He leaned against the wall with his arms folded over his enormous chest and looked out of the window.  
-She won't be amused," I commented, noting that a scar behind his ear interrupted his brown hair.  
He didn't answer. I bowed and turned ready to leave.  
-I thought I saw you at the Golden Rooster last week.  
-Yes, the innkeeper gives me some bronze if I introduce myself.  
The next night, I found Harry in the tavern, drinking without paying attention.  
A week later I brought him another letter.  
-I won't answer," he said.  
-All right.  
-It's very hot.  
-How?  
-Well, they told me it was something similar in Judea.  
-Yes, of course.  
Every week I went with a Bellatrix message full of spelling mistakes and read it aloud. Then I waited for the brief conversation he always offered me.  
-Did you cut yourself? -He asked me one day, pointing to the bandage on my wrist.  
-Yes," I replied and turned my hands to hide my scars.  
-You have the wrists as I have the back," he said, as he stared at me. It was all eyes, emerald in colour and not as cold as they said.  
I remembered the night we met, at that party, he had assaulted me in the downstairs bathroom, with a full jug filled to half my vital liquid, he had come to hide from the world just like me...he let me go from his defensive prison and we got ready to do what we had intended before...what case did he have to pretend at that moment? That night he sang to me, a beautiful hymn that he had learned recently from the mountains, and he recognized it, that night I knew it was from Brigantia, that his favorite childhood hero had been Severus Snape...old rival of Julius Caesar, he knew of my Masada people and of the origin of my knowledge of reading and writing thanks to my first master which was Greek. The following night, at the Golden Rooster, at dawn, while the drunks were nodding and Harry was drinking silently in his secluded corner, I sang the song I had recently composed. With a slow and soft voice, so that the melody would spread its freshness through that lethargic room, like a humid breeze from that island refreshing the   
charged environment.  
-Where did you learn that song? -He asked me the next time I brought him a letter from Bella.  
-From me," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.  
He said nothing else, but I began to know the lines and shadows of his face, the expressions that were read in his eyes... and that made me very happy.

HARRY

The heat was driving me crazy. Also the boredom and the inactivity, but above all that burning and tiring heat. I was afraid of sand. I got up amid curses when I remembered the applause. But the idea that some games were approaching made me feel better. Anything was better than feeling the blood burning in my veins.  
I went out into the courtyard, where the midday sun formed mirages of lakes on the smoothed sand, and picked up a wooden sword. I stripped myself of my tunic and did some training exercises (mechanical and implacable movements that calmed my body, but not my spirit). The trainer paired me with a Greek for a practice fight, and I didn't wait for my opponent's greeting to throw a blow to his side.  
-Stop! -shouted the Greek, moving away from a jump. We're just training.  
Kill him, the demon inside me whispered to me.  
I hurled myself at my rival, who lifted his sword to defend himself. The woods crashed and the Greek one broke through the hilt, sending off splinters. He jumped back, but I approached him and stamped the hilt of his sword on the Greek's nose, which fell to the ground. I jumped on it and we rolled. I put my hands around a sweaty, sand-stained throat.  
Kill him, kill him. - That's enough, boy.- I came to, blinking.  
-Reserve your strength," said Alastor from the door. I want you fresh for the Ludi Romani of September.  
Finger to finger, I let go and he squatted. He was bathed in sweat.  
-You bastard! You broke my nose.  
Kill him, I kept whispering the demon inside me. You want to do it, kill him.  
I turned around and left. As I walked through the gallery I could feel the bitter glances of the other fighters. In the street, on the other side of the barriers, the curious eyes of passers-by appeared. I wonder when was the last time they didn't look at me wherever I went.  
There was no wind, but the sweat on my skin began to evaporate. I was invaded by a violent attack of nostalgia for the cool rains and the green hills, for those sweet mists that kissed the skin and the soft winds that rocked the oaks. I was tired of clear skies and warm, lifeless air. The heat withered me, turning me into a dry, bland shell before I grew old.  
I stepped aside, leading a violent thrust into the air. There was a crowd gathered contemplating me behind the barriers and making bets.  
Kill them.   
I was about to return to the barracks when I saw Hermione behind the barriers. She was in a corner of the courtyard, away from the people, with a basket resting on his hips and a braid of copper hair falling on his shoulder. She would probably go to the forum to run an errand, but he had stopped to look at it with his calm, serene gaze. I looked at her. Again she had a bloody bandage on her wrist.  
Not quite knowing why, I lifted my sword and greeted her.  
Hail, the cry of the gladiators resounded in my head, those who are going to die greet you.  
I wielded the sword gracefully, stopping the tip a few palms from the ground, and then I thrust an imaginary enemy, followed by a defense, a twist and a feint. A slow, elegant dance with the sword as the sun burned my back, the sand stuck to my feet, and all my muscles stretched softly like hot honey.  
Bluffer, the black demon murmured with contempt.  
I turned around, lifted the sword over my head and threw it over the sand. It went very deep, vibrating, with the grip buzzing under my hands. I looked at Hermione.  
The crowd applauded, but the sound reached far away. I had managed to make her smile.

-Another letter from my mistress," she said, raising her eyebrows.- Do you want me to read it to you? You know what it says.  
I shrugged my shoulders and struggled to thread a needle that I had asked from a slave, for the sleeve of my robe was torn.  
-In that case, I'd rather not waste time," she said, holding her hands to her waist. -Do you intend to send her an answer? She keeps asking why you don't answer him," she said annoyedly.  
-She has the hair of a lamb. You can tell him that.  
Hermione laughed out loud.  
-If you want me to get beaten to unconsciousness it would definitely be a good idea.  
There was a moment of silence. I managed to thread the needle and extended the arm of the unsewn sleeve.  
-That's what slaves can do," said Hermione.  
I shrugged again and answered:  
-I don't like asking Alastor for things.  
-Then you'll have to learn to sew well. You're doing it badly.  
I laughed because of my clumsiness.  
-They never taught me.  
-I'll teach you.  
-Okay.  
We're going to my cell. Hermione passed her eyes through the stone walls, the back of the chair, the rough blanket of the bed....  
-What's going on?  
-It's not what I expected. A little austere. -She turned and offered me a smile. Needle?  
-Here you go.  
-Good. Sit down.  
-Why?  
She put his hands on my shoulders and made me sit on the chair. Her voice sounded playful.  
-Because I'm the teacher, and the teacher always has to be above the student. First of all, you have to take off your tunic. You can't sew something you're wearing.  
I timidly took off my tunic. I had been wearing my training skirt underneath since morning, but I felt naked. Hermione's lips tightened, but with precise hands he turned the garment around.  
-You have to cut the threads loose. Do you have a knife?  
-Alastor doesn't let me have anything cutting.  
-I don't blame him. Then he puts the strings inside and folds the edges over them,' she said, and showed me how to do it. Now you take the needle and you go round stitching, like this.  
My stitches were very coarse next to hers.  
-I'm not good at it.  
-Did Severus Snape beat Caesar in the first battle? Try again. Careful, if you squeeze so hard, you'll break the needle. It's not a sword, Harry.  
My name sounded sweet on her lips. Her hand, tense with work, helped me to sharpen my stitches. I felt her breath, her braid caressing my bare arm, in the middle of so much concentration she ended up in the middle of me. Her skin was soft and cool despite the sticky heat. Suddenly, it seemed that the temperature in the cell had risen...she wanted to take a string from the dresser and her hip grazed my thigh.  
The needle broke.  
I got up abruptly, and she hit the bed.  
-Get out!  
-What? -Half sitting on my rough blankets, she seemed surprised... -Harry...  
-Go away! -I exclaimed brutally, before the demon could whisper to me: harm him.  
With an impassive face, Hermione left. She was the second woman to be thrown out of her cell, but she left without saying a word, silently and on her own foot.  
I slammed the door when he left. I leaned my back on the latch, bringing my hands to my head, and heard his quiet steps as he walked down the aisle. Now she would be walking through the school entrance, the doors would be closing behind her, and she would be walking towards Lestrange's house in search of her blue pot.  
I pushed the door open and shouted:  
-Beaver!  
-Yes, dear? -answered the lanista, who appeared in the corridor, groomed for a feast and accompanied by a beautiful slave who brought him his perfumer.  
-Don't let that woman come in here again. Never again!  
I slammed the door again while the demon laughed out loud.

BELLATRIX

The festival of Volturnalia had already been celebrated and I was back in the city.  
-What a summer I spent! -commented while stretching-Tivoli is beautiful in August. It's not hot. It's a pity you missed it. By the gods... You can't imagine what the emperor has done. Albus was the first to find out... He divorced his wife! Yes, yes, Emperor Tom. He has sent her to Brundisium, or to Tuscany, or somewhere like that. Can you believe it? I'm sure the woman had a lover... They say that this actor called Paris, the one who plays in Marcelo's Theatre. Anyway, I can't imagine an empress with an actor; it's gossip. But it is rumoured that Tom had him killed... He's a very jealous husband.  
-Shall I start unpacking, madam?  
-Yes, Albus is coming to dinner today, so leave the yellow dress out. Don't worry about the jewels, I don't need to look too pretty for him.  
I looked impatiently at my engagement ring and then, glancing at it, I asked him:  
-Well, Hermione, what have you got for me?  
-Jasmine perfume, madam?  
-Don't change the subject, Mione. How was your order for the summer?  
-He didn't receive the last three letters.  
-You've lost them!  
-No!" she exclaimed as she ordered the perfume bottles.- He wouldn't see me.  
-What do you mean he didn't want to see you?  
-I went to give him a letter," she said, "and he asked me to leave.  
\- How? Why?  
-I don't know.  
-You're an idiot. You've ruined everything! —Slapping her on the cheek.- I knew you'd find a way to ruin it! How dare you?  
I started walking around the room.  
-And how dare he? He's just a simple gladiator. Doesn't he know who I am? I will tell father to send him to the lions, ... -Suddenly, -. There's someone else, isn't there? Who is it? Some patrician bitch? A young tribune?  
-No. He just... he doesn't like people.  
That made sense, I hadn't seen someone so bitter in my life...the truth was starting to sicken me of the matter...but, it was only a matter of seeing him there so enigmatic to awaken my hunting instinct...besides, no matter how shy he was, nobody had been able to resist Bellatrix Lestrange before...this was just the coiemzo of his many hunts. I looked up at her, who still had my blow marked, seemed nervous.  
-But I won't ask you to carry any message again, you just complicate things.  
As soon as it came out, I began to plan my next move, even though it was a little difficult to concentrate on the current gossip... what would be of such a sudden separation from the emperor?  
-Hermione! just what I was looking for  
And there I was, my father intercepting MY slave in MY hallway just returning home.  
-Hermione, you haven't ordered my robes yet! let's go, father, for sure another one will order your things! -a few moments after hearing a sigh of exasperation, she arrived again with relief in her eyes. I sighed.

HARRY

Wrapped in a thick cape with a large hood, I reached the Aurelian Gate.  
-Hey, you," a peremptory guard intercepted me, "what are you doing covered up like a criminal? Let's see if your papers are in order... Wait, I know you!  
I didn't react in time, and I covered my gladiator tattoo on my arm too late.  
-I saw you at the Colosseum.... You're the Barbarian! Where...?  
I threw both fists into the guard's stomach and ran. Six guards stopped me in the middle of the dusty road.  
If I had had a sword, I thought as I was led by my elbows back to Mars Street. They would not have caught me if I had a sword.  
-Yes, thank you," said Alastor cordially as he generously handed out coins to the guards. From now on he will go out to train in chains... You've knocked out a guard? Bitten? I hope this will ease his pain.  
More money changed hands as four of Alastor's henchmen shackled around my wrists and ankles. I knew, when I heard the familiar and irritating crunching of the chains, that this time there would be no caresses or smiles.  
As soon as the angry guards left and the door closed, Alastor turned and crossed my face with his hand full of rings. So underneath that pink skin and fofa there was some muscle.  
-Stupid! -shouted the lanista, releasing a string of insults characteristic of the underworld.  
-You are betraying your origins, Alastor -I commented, and I received another blow that threw my head against the wall.  
-So trying to escape, huh? -spit- What about me? You would have ruined me. Stupid!  
Another blow. I felt the taste of blood in my mouth, and a wave of macabre satisfaction came over me. The blows, the chains and the insults were things I knew well.  
-Go to hell, Alastor," I said, smiling my bloody teeth.  
This time it was one of the lanista's thugs who hit me.  
-You're hurting your investment, aren't you? -I asked, dizzy.  
-I was wrong about my investment," he said, squinting at his alcoholic eyes. My money has gone down the drain. Do you know why, Barbarian? Because the emperor has decided to declare war on the cats. He goes to Germania to join his legions. Who is going to finance some games in September if the emperor is not there to see them? I don't think there will be any more games, and that means that all the time you spent this summer drinking like a vat, I was losing money.  
-It's a shame! -I lamented, and a hard palm broke my lip.  
-But you'll fight, dear. Maybe not in the Colosseum. It won't rain rose petals or silver coins, but trust me, you'll fight. In any second-rate amphitheater, with mangy lions and old gladiators. In any bleachers where people can gather to watch you die, you will fight. You will return to me all the money you have made me lose. Outside the Colosseum no one cares about the rules, no one respects them. When you're with your guts hanging from your knees and a sword stuck in your back, I'll be there watching it, and I'll smile, dear, because you're a damn ballast.  
-Not as big as you," I smiled despite the dizziness I felt. -A mountain of stale fat.  
I closed his eyes tightly when Alastor's henchmen threw themselves at me.  
That night I slept face down, my back almost open to my bones by the blows of a rope soaked in brine. As my good mood turned to agony.

The Colosseum remained empty that autumn, and the gladiators of the great schools lay in the shade, taking life calmly. The streets, however, were full of fights, and I was in every one of them.  
I passed through dilapidated amphitheatres, with the sand full of weeds and the bleachers to burst with the dross from the slums. Hard men with malicious glances who only applauded when blood flowed and who never asked for clemency for the losers, no matter how brave they were. But when the Barbarian broke in two to a gigantic Hispanic in one blow, they exploded in a clamor of admiration and flooded the sand like a sea.  
I passed by taverns of bad death in which the tables were separated as soon knives appeared, and the corpses of the losers were thrown into the Tiber. When the barbarian pierced the nose of an Italian sailor with a pair of fine daggers, I received a wine bath and was carried on my shoulders by the crowd.  
I passed through dark alleys in the underworld where the gravel was crammed with knives and the fighters were killed by a handful of copper coins. I faced three brothers from Subura dagger in hand, and when all three were dead at my feet, I turned and cut off the feet of a protesting spectator with a swordstroke.  
I fought with my arm in a sling, broken by a trident. With two fingers broken by the handle of a knife, with the view clouded by the blood of a cut on the forehead. With half-welded bones and torn muscles, with dark bruises and torch burns, with swords and shields, with knives and nets, even with hands, as I demonstrated on a warm autumn afternoon when I shattered a man's trachea with my fingers.  
I was the hero of the masses, the favourite of the suburbs. The people of Rome threw their money without protesting at Alastor's hands in order to enter unstable amphitheatres and follow my every move. They told their children that I was a demon, they counted my scars and tabulated my deaths. They screamed, cheered, and came back asking for more. They took me, bloody and exhausted, to taverns where they bathed me in wine. I sat, surrounded by prostitutes, in their lonely corner. I only came out of my lethargy to beat up some admirer who was getting too close. The black demon that inhabited my interior walked happily on a river of blood that reached the knees, howling with happiness.

ALBUS

-The Empress? -Well, now that I had this idea, I was really analyzing that it wasn't a good idea. -I have no idea if it will be restored, Bellatrix.  
-But if you know everything about the imperial family," said my fiancée in one of her sweetest tones.  
We were in the garden of her house, which was wide and with the distribution of shrubs in the form of a labyrinth, in the center was a fountain which was being cleaned by the slave.  
-Come on, tell me...  
We began to walk towards the back of the garden, the truth was, my voice was a little tired, not only because of the weight of my age, but because I had just had one of my many meetings with the Senate....  
-I advised them to reconcile. The Empress is very dear and, given her reputation as a virtuous woman, no one believes the accusations of adultery but her husband.  
-What about Helena? It is rumored that she has problems with her husband. Are you going to get divorced too?  
-No," I replied, "Helena is... Well, a little special. She's very fragile, she needs someone to protect her. She took refuge in me for a while, after her father's death, but I'm very old now.  
-But you're still a boy! -Bella laughed, trying to play down the forty-six years of her fiancé.  
-No, I'm old," I said in a sudden serious tone. Bellatrix, do you really want to marry me?  
She finally fell silent for a few moments, if she was surprised, she didn't prove it... this had to be cleared up, after all, it wasn't just my sorrow.-You know you don't have to do that," I said before she opened her beautiful mouth. I'm old, I'm a cripple and I have my manias... No, don't interrupt me. I spend half my day in the Senate, and the rest of the time I'm in my library, writing treaties. I don't like parties and I have a stepchild exactly your age. I'm not the right party for a beautiful young girl like you.  
-I've always wondered, Albus... Why do you want to remarry after so many years of divorce?  
She threw the question in a demure tone.  
-I like to be alone," I replied, shrugging my shoulders, "and even if I don't like it, there aren't many women who want to be with an old, lonely thing like me.  
I imagined it would be a great sacrifice even though I was the grandson of the great Godric.  
-But with your status, your education, your lineage...  
-Ah, yes, my lineage - a tone of bitterness invaded me. -My imperial blood may not be very licit, but I am the last living grandson of Emperor Gryffindor. Emperor Gellert considered me harmless, but his brother has a more suspicious nature. The new emperor likes to bother me, and there is no better way to make an old man uncomfortable than to force him to marry," I bowed politely, "especially a beautiful girl like you, who would be better off with a young man.  
What better way to subdue a rival than to humiliate me? And what could humiliate a proud and austere senator like me? Forcing me to carry a whimsical little girl as his wife. Many mature men married quinceañeras without caring about the gossip of Rome, but not someone like Senator Dumbledore. No one laughed at me, my reputation was impeccable, but thanks to Tom's temper tantrum, they would.  
She, of course, didn't take the hint.  
-So the emperor chose me for you? -I could feel the pleasure of that emperor's deference-Well, if that's what he wants....  
-No!" said, serious. If you prefer someone else, something I can understand, then I will reject the link.  
-Would you oppose the emperor's will for me?   
I looked at her disconcerted... although she was spoiled, this creature was innocent, if, I felt nostalgia, she was dazzling, we had to admit... with her white silk that made the dark of her hair stand out and the brightness in her eyes, definitely, I wouldn't make this girl pay for real and political conflicts, I would take good care of her, after a while, I got ready to retire. Rebastan Lestrange would offer another banquet for the gladiators in a week's time, and they still had a long way to go.

BELLATRIX  
-You know, I've made a decision about Albus," I told Hermione in the bathrooms when I stretched out on the marble massage slab. I think I'm going to marry him in the end.  
-Excuse me, ma'am? -She asked me as his fingers massaged my back. Although she was a petulant, cynical and proud slave, she had magical hands.  
-I'm talking about Albus. He may be old, but then it'll be easier for me to control him. In the blink of an eye he'll be eating out of my hand.  
-Of course.  
Although she responded to me with submission, as usual, she was always in doubt as to whether she was mocking me in the back.  
-And although I am old, ugly and hunchbacked, I am still a senator," I continued- and an aristocrat, more or less. Besides, I don't have to be married to him forever. It will be my trampoline. Once I become Mrs. Bellatrix Dumbledore, the senator's beautiful wife, I will be able to move around patrician circles, with governors and generals to choose from.... I'll have a choice, won't I?  
I put my chin between my hands, and I added:  
-Alas, I have a lot of plans. I can see everything coming out just the way I want... A little more on the left shoulder.  
-Yes, ma'am.  
-Smooth, my bruises still hurt.  
What bruises he had! Two nights ago, Father had celebrated another banquet for gladiators. Again, the Barbarian was the guest of honor. I asked the slaves to pour more alcohol into my father's wine, who didn't realize it when I got off the triclinium and went out into the dark garden. There stood the Barbarian, looking at the moon in the cold of the night. "A beautiful moon," I whispered in his ear, and kissed him.  
-At last I was with the Barbarian," I said to Hermione with satisfaction, standing on my side on the massage slab so that I could reach under my shoulder.  
I turned to look at her, frowning, but she had the same expressionless face as always. Anyway, I was right. I always get what I want, and on that occasion I wanted the Barbarian. In the dark garden, his hands grabbed me by the shoulders. His fingers got stuck in my flesh and with his teeth he made a wound in my lips, it could have lasted a minute that I took as hours under him, being drilled in a brutal way.  
-It was so exciting," I commented, and raised my arm for her to massage my side. It's so gross! Had it not been for the appearance of her lanista, she would have dragged me out of there and made me do what she wanted.  
-Sandalwood or jasmine oil, ma'am?  
-Jasmine. I wonder what father would do if he found out," I laughed and bowed my back.- He'd probably get angry, but if all those patrician ladies want it too, why don't I?  
Of course, it would be a great scandal: a young woman from a good family seduced by a gladiator. But didn't that give the matter more emotion?  
-And why do I have to offer myself entirely to Albus? -I thought aloud, 'Why don't I save something for myself? I know exactly what to do on a wedding night: pretend I'm scared and bring a bag of chicken's blood to bed, like all brides do in case the husband is too drunk to comply. Besides, I'll be more entertained, because I'll have something delicious to think about while I have the boring old man from Albus on me.  
I closed my eyes while Hermione caressed the jasmine oil behind my ears.  
-I could go as high as you want... to the top if you're so bold... suddenly he stopped scratching my shoulder a little... I'm sorry, ma'am, I've spoken without permission," she said, concentrating on bottles of perfume and massage oils. -Would you like me to bring your robe?  
-Of course you could... why is that? -I smiled, feeling a tingling of satisfaction inside me. She was a slave of the lowest, yet her alago meant a lot to me, perhaps it was that she hardly ever praised me, perhaps it was that she was the only one who really knew who I was...at that very moment it didn't matter, she was like a confidant since she was given to me, a little advisory voice for my intimate interests, and a lizard that was worthless had no voice...more than for labia, poor illusion...I could get to Slytherin's territory if I wanted to.  
I got up slowly and got so close to her that I could feel her breath on my face.  
-Think, your husband's Albus Dumbledore itself, the men are looking for delicious muses that are already married, and to top it off, being THE senator's wife...I've heard of marriage problems at the top.  
-The base of a project is forming in my head... I'll think about it, but we'll be housed in the middle of gold walls... we will be.  
Before her face tried to show its bewilderment, I finally gave in to my whim and curiosity and joined my mouth with his...the dance was rhythmic for several minutes, in which we finished another, position, in another place, even his tongue was cynical.  
She looked at me intensely-do you want something more from me, my lady?  
-No, I have enough, you can retire.

HARRY

Alastor began to allow himself to go out in the afternoons. I tried to get some exercise, but in those days I was recognized before taking ten steps. It was no use, better to get drunk.  
-Water! -I spat as soon as I walked through the door of the Golden Rooster, followed by a loud tumult of admirers. And wine! And food!  
I threw a coin at the innkeeper.  
-No, no, no. Here the Barbarian is always invited. What a fight this afternoon! When you gutted that Greek...  
-Forget the food," I said, sitting at my table in the corner. Bring only wine.  
Drink and fight. Blood and wine. Drink the blood, and pour out the wine. There is no difference. He looked at the pitcher.  
-Careful," commented someone around him. Last week he destroyed one of his jaw because he got too close.  
Drinking and fighting. Drink the wine, swallow it, choke... It's all you've got.  
I crashed the empty jug against the back wall. My admirers cheered and I broke another nine jugs to the drunks' applause. I would have liked to kick them all out on the street.  
Then a gray robe and a clean hand blocked my vision.  
-Go away," I said calmly.  
-For all that is sacred, you could at least try to reason with your head a little, I have looked everywhere for you without tiredness, it means there is a matter in between, don't you think?  
I grabbed the jug of wine without looking up. -I have a message to give you," said Hermione indifferently. My lady wants you to meet her in the Gardens of Luculus tomorrow at midnight. She has already bribed your lanista. Do you understand me? Epitychia, Barbarian.  
I finally lifted my head, but she had already disappeared into the crowd. I saw her for a moment at the door, shaken by a bunch of drunks as she slipped into the street. I got up from my chair.  
-Stay a little longer, Barbarian," said the innkeeper, posing another pitcher overflowing with wine on the table. The first storm of winter seems to be approaching. Tonight there will only be thieves and murderers in the street.  
A multitude of plebeians entered the tavern, removing their cloaks between oaths. I grabbed my cape and he led me to the door. A group of admirers rose to follow him, but I turned:  
-Whoever follows me, I'll kill.  
Some didn't listen, so I grabbed the heads of a couple of men and smashed them against each other. Then I threw a third into the chimney, and while the wretch tried to extinguish the flames in his hair, I left the room.  
It wouldn't be long before it started raining, I could smell it when I lifted my nose to the iron-colored sky. For the first time in months a cold wind was blowing. I put on the hood. How long has it been since it rained? I missed it.  
I found Hermione halfway in an alley. She walked with his back straight. I reached her in a few strides.  
-Stupid," I said rudely. -How could you walk alone through this part of the city?  
-My lady is waiting for me," she replied, looking straight ahead, ignoring the dust that a treacherous breeze threw against her face. -Bellatrix Lestrange is not kept waiting.  
-It's going to rain.  
-Do you see that I have another option?  
They walked together in silence.  
-You didn't have a good day.  
She sighed with irony  
-Only running errands, but don't worry, remember, your appointment is already announced -I was silent...maybe she was...jealous? He never thought about her, acting in such an immature way just like the others...  
-Bullshit.  
-Who do you kill?  
-What?  
-Who do you see when, do you do it?-To Alastor, to my admirers, to Rome...  
-To all  
-Me?  
-…  
-What if I wanted to? -She said, and stopped in the middle of the raging wind and bowed her head. -Now, would you finish with me?- I didn't know when we were standing in the middle of an alley.  
-Would you kill me, please?  
-What?  
-Look, I'll start.  
With a quick movement, Hermione bent down, took a sharp stone from the ground and slit her wrist. The blood sprouted under the gray light.  
-You finish.  
-No," I said, without being able to look away from her. I wasn't good at words. No.  
For a moment Hermione held her gaze. Her mahogany eyes were so infinitely sad...but no, now that I thought about it, it was determination was what I saw, a spark wanting to become...loyalty? I didn't know very well, but I was sure that that melancholy was the most enigmatic and majestic I have ever seen. Suddenly, as if coming out of a trance, she shook her head and lowered it, embarrassed, cradled her wrist against her chest-forgive me, I-. She turned away and, as she turned around, her sandal strip broke and she tripped.  
Even before I knew she was falling, I held her and lifted her with both arms, preventing her from hitting the stones on the floor. She grabbed my shoulder, she felt the firm and pure grip of that creature so similar to a muse as I tried to carry her. I wanted her madly.  
When I put her on the ground we looked at each other. I imagined her mouth would taste sweet and fresh.  
Thunder exploded over our heads and we looked away. She seemed to notice the weather again and again. Seeing the blood gushing from her wrist, she stood up dry.  
-I think... I should bandage this," said Hermione, to which I nodded silently.  
There were no tents or taverns nearby to take refuge in. Only the dark hall of a house, with the door closed. I knocked, but they did not answer. The wind raged, raising swirls of dust in the street. In the distance, the Colosseum could be seen illuminated by the light of the rays.  
Our arms rubbed against each other in the narrow portal. Hermione crouched to fix the ribbon on her sandal. The tunic she wore stuck to her slender body and I could see the fine, tiny curve of her waist, her back... I looked away.  
From the corner of my eye he saw a piece of cloth being torn from his tunic and wrapped around his wrist. Then, she tied it tightly with the ribbon that gathered its braid, and her long thick hair fell loose down her back. He bowed his head and that exotic coat of hair reached below her waist. It covered his face like a veil through which he could guess traces of his profile: his nose straight, his mouth.  
I stretched out my hand while inside I heard a voice too soft and begging to be that of the devil: Do not hurt him. I pulled the hair away from the girl's face with my fingers. The locks of copper had the feel of silk and smelled of rain. I picked up a patch of hair in my fist and took it to my lips.  
She turned to find my gaze. I remembered with bitterness all the occasions when I had been so close to a burning body like that. It had always been in the sand and I had ended up bathed in blood and ending up with a life.it didn't help that a flash of fear or anguish appeared in her gaze. The hunger that accumulated inside me was not seen in anything I had to see in the sand ... it was scary. Before I could ask her to walk away, she tried, backing away and hitting the rough wall. And then it happened. I grabbed her again, without the ability to reflect any more. I felt her bones creak as I embraced her. Never since I arrived in Rome had I felt so alive. Her lips opened, either to speak, as an invitation...it didn't matter, I joined them and tried every corner while I was in my prison, I could take it right there, its taste was driving me crazy, it was like a drug, the more undierami lengue in it, it was like reaching with each step the happiness that was denied me.  
It was when I came out of my trance, something agitated, with a last taste I finally left the sweet nectar of her cavity, she looked me intensely in the eyes, as if evaluating something, at the same time with...a longing brightness perhaps.  
The rain began to calm down as well.  
-The meeting  
-I didn't plan to attend-gathering all my sincerity  
-I looked at her carefully, she began to gently kiss my jaw, almost purring.  
-At ten o'clock, there, once you've thought about it, I nodded.  
The sky was completely clear when we went on opposite roads...from that place where an agreement was formed, where she gave me a choice.


	3. III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter I imagine it so much with Aranjuez's concert :,)

BELLATRIX

He didn't show up for the appointment at the Luculus Gardens. I spent some time laughing. My suggestive wavy nightgown was moved by the breeze. It was a perfect day for a date, but I didn't hear anything. I returned home in a rage, denying the bunk porters their tip and throwing myself on my lonely bed, as if nothing had happened. Confused, irritated...anonized. Soon my mind was deprived of the disturbing emotions I felt and slept, without telling Hermione to leave, with a final effort I opened one eye and knew that she was no longer there...so accustomed she was to following my skirts to where I went with expectant eyes.

HARRY

-Well, well," commented Alastor, and arched his eyebrows waxed as he stroked the arm of one of his young slaves. -You're in a good mood this winter. You don't throw chairs, or pop jars, or tear ears off my fighters... Besides, my cellar is almost intact. In fact, I think you've been at least a month without throwing a knife at any innkeeper.  
-Go to hell," I said, but with a friendly tone.  
It was a busy winter. We've had enough of the bad-tempered amphitheatres and the fights in the alleys. The Colosseum reopened its doors. The emperor had returned to Rome only long enough to reconcile with his wife before returning, very angry, to Germania. However, the city was full of Hispanics - gambling fans - wanting to have fun. They piled up on the bleachers with their strange skins, shivering with cold before the icy winds of Rome, and I fought for them. I fought against Serpico, the trident gladiator who wore live snakes in his helmet; against Lupus, a German wrapped in wolf skins; against a Hispanic brought from Lusitania to defend the honor of his public. All found their end at the Coliseum, amid passionate cries of enthusiasm.  
-For God's sake, aren't they ever going to hurt you? -Hermione protested-. So at least you'll spend a couple of months in bed without them trying to take your life with sharp objects, and I'll still get some rest.  
-No, you won't rest," I picked her up in my arms and squeezed her so hard that her bones cracked. -You will spend the whole day by my side in bed.  
-Well," she said, pouting with a mischievous betrayal look, "what can be done?  
-Mione, don't come and see my combats," I asked her, holding her chin in my hands.  
-Bella obliges me.  
-I don't want you to be present when...  
"... when they kill me".  
I buried her face in her hair while she surrounded my neck with her arms. A week later, fighting a Gaul, a trident pierced my shoulder. My sword entered through the Gaul's mouth.  
-In the end I have won," I said to an angry Alastor as the barracks doctor cleaned and bandaged the triple wound.  
-Yes," replied the furious lanista, "and since you can fight the right as well as the left, I am not going to cancel your fight next month. You've got commitments, kid, so don't think you're gonna get rid of them because you get poked with a trident.  
-Bastard! -Hermione muttered that night, rather sulky walking around like a caged feline throwing tantrums about kicking ass or putting artifacts in clothes or jumping lobsters of surprise in the pants of beautiful slaves so that just at the moment that...  
I burst out laughing.  
-Don't laugh, it's not funny. Well, maybe so, but... Now I take back that I wanted you to get hurt. I'm more worried than ever, you have to fight again in a couple of weeks. Does it hurt?  
-This arm can still take you to bed - lifting it to show it to him.  
-I can do it myself," she said, resting her head on my shoulder.  
-We barbarians always carry women as if they were sacks of wheat.  
-Whenever you can," she said, and touched her bandaged shoulder.  
-What are you insinuating, that I'm not capable?  
I threw her on the bed making her tunic trap rise making her useless and kissed her stomach, licking the navel part, feeling the welcome sensation of the vibrating tremor all over the body beneath me.  
-All right! All right! I take it back. Stop it, I'm dying. - The choppy and comical jadeities were still going on.  
-That's how I like it - I grunted and kissed her on the mouth.  
We didn't have much difficulty spending time together. Almost every day, she managed to get an hour out of the messages on the forum and slipped into the street of Mars. As the nights grew longer and darker, she began to run away from home and cross the garden door to meet me.  
-Harry," caressed one cheek and separated slightly to see me, at this point I could no longer think clearly with the pain of a certain part of my body, "wait.  
I separated ligermante, after the night that gave me in the bathroom of the mansion, we did not really make love again, she seemed worried, as if something bothered her, whenever the temperature was already very high, made that gesture as a way of reassurance and ended up pleasing us without the natural act. If I was worried, confused or with a vague fear of having hurt her that time, I would swirl it to the bottom of my mind, unable to question it or demand anything other than that she take her eyes off it in my combats... in my life so used and so in the hands of gods, I only wanted to be the deer of this muse lost on Earth...so unnatural, so pure...  
Without realizing it, I warmed up again like a bonfire as she traced lines through all my scars, descending to the lower abdomen, her gaze clouded as she stared at me in a hungry and receptive manner, without thinking about it rationally I was again carrying my weight with my forearms and sifting through her pelvis.  
-Har -her voice died the moment I bit her right lobe separating her legs abruptly.  
And I rammed her, a gasp of surprise escaped her, but at the same time her face deformed with satisfaction and began to stormyly move her hips ...it was my signal to definitively stop thinking and stab her again and again (as I liked to deceive the demon), her legs surrounded me and her arms hung around my neck like a prison, for this moment her tunic was a jumble of fabric around her waist (preventing her from destroying it), I lowered my head intoxicating myself with its fragance and devouring her breasts, it was so exquisite that it was addictive, forcing me to lick everything in my path, I wanted to have it over and over again...fuck, I could do this all day long.  
A mutual grunt came out of our throats as we climaxed, Mione's body shivered slightly under mine.  
I didn't know how to tell her that my knees shook every night as she crossed the door of my cell to land, laughing and breathless, in my arms. I had no words, all I could do was show her.  
-Harry," she said when we caught our breath.- I love you  
She has a somewhat outward look, I lay beside her around her as her crotch began to drip ... "and you are everything to me."

"You're lazy," he reproached me.-Yes, yes, I know you're still killing them, but I know you, young man. You've become cautious, yes, sir. And caution doesn't score points in the Coliseum. -He sighed-. It's Lestrange's slave, isn't it? Don't make that face, boy. I know she's coming these days for more than just to bring you letters. Well, better with her than with her owner, but still... If you're losing shape because of her, I'll take care of sending her to...  
Before Alastor could finish the sentence, he had my hands around his neck.  
-Don't even think about it, or I'll strangle you.  
-That's the way I like it! -He babbled, with a purple face and patting me on the shoulder.- So you have to go out into the sand, please. And now, could you let go of me, boy?  
I hated to admit that Alastor was right, but Hermione wasn't doing me any good. I wasn't going to tell her, but I was losing my faculties. However, thanks to luck, I was still winning. Every time the employees of the amphitheatre dragged the corpse of an opponent through the Gate of Death, I would say to me: a few more weeks with Mione.  
-I'm sure you tell everyone the same thing," she joked one night when I told her.. A few more weeks with Sulpicia, a few more weeks with Cassandra, a few more weeks with Bellatrix...  
I sighed as I approached her, cornering her against the wall.  
-There was none before you," I whispered in her ear, "nor will there be any after.  
-I know about Bella," she said in a whisper, her critical eyes.  
-Your lady? -then I remembered the second party in that desperate mansion, I wrinkled the sign- if three minutes of rubbing in which a soft body replaces your hand counts then, I suppose so- she opened her mouth to replicate, but her face took a comical shape when she had the internal struggle of whether to laugh or scold me.  
I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't have to tell him about the demon or the things he told me about how a man should treat women. Hermione and the demon never met in the same room.  
Some nights, she would sing for me as I rested my head on her lap. She stroked my hair and sang melodies from Greece, Judea or Brigantia. Her rich contralto voice resounded in the mouth of her stomach, ran through my spine and reached all my muscles until I fell asleep wrapped in the music of her hands and her voice.  
-You are a witch," I said her, "your voice is a magic wand.  
Sometimes we would lie down, hands intertwined on the pillow, silent.  
-What do you think? - I asked her, while I memorized her with my eyes from head to toe... everything in her was divine, so perfect for me.  
She always responded by shaking her head and hugging me, and we fell asleep entangled like the roots of a tree. When she woke up, she already had her eyes open and her mouth formed a dazzling smile that made me melt. We could explore ourselves and make mental art among ourselves in so many ways... despite the scarce coitus, eroticism never died.  
Sometimes, Hermione would walk through the map of the scars on my body, the complicated tangle of lashes on my back, the rough marks of stones and tears on my feet, the sharp lines of swords and tridents on my shoulders.  
-And this? -she asked me.  
-A foreman broke my elbow with a stick.  
-And this one?  
-From a knife in a fight in Subura.  
-And this?  
-The tattoo of Alastor's gladiators. They're supposed to be crossed swords.  
She looked at it attentively and commented:  
-Well, they look like two crossed carrots.  
She ran the scars and the tattoo with the fingers, rubbing them so that I would feel clean, young and not so bitter as to be unhappy.  
-What do you want me to say, I'm certainly a little jealous of you, bastard," said a Thracian to me when he saw her going out into the street. -And you also taste her lady, that Lestrange, the two are there to eat.  
I stamped the head of the Thracian on the wall, but not with the fury of yesteryear. The demon unscrewed, but seemed very distant.

BELLATRIX

-You have a lover, don't you? -I asked her one afternoon while she was combing my hair.  
-Excuse me, ma'am?  
-A lover, Mione. A man. Do you know what a man is? -I was in a dog's mood that winter.- Who is he?  
-Who?  
-Oh, don't make that silly face. You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. -I narrowed my eyes looking at her through the mirror-There are no secrets between a mistress and her maiden. Tell me.  
-How did you find out? -she asked quietly.  
-It's more than obvious. You go in a hurry and "enthusiasm" to the errands... Just today you took too long to make the purchase. Tell me, who is he?  
-Well, he is... —. She combed my hair. -He has a tavern in Subura.  
-A low-income innkeeper? What a triumph, Mione! And what else can you tell me?  
-He has... blond hair. He's from Brundisium, and he has a scar on his knuckles, once a drunk pulled out a knife.  
I laughed.  
-And does he want to marry you? Wait, let me guess: he's already married!  
She blinked flirting looking at me, and murmured:  
-Well, his wife is almost never in town. They don't get along.  
-I'm sure they don't... Oh, Hermione, a innkeeper... I always knew you'd have a terrible taste to deflower yourself, the need would win you over.... In fact," I added, and I turned to look at her and touch her neck, "let's see, move your hair away from your neck.... What about those marks? Passion marks?  
She muttered something in Greek...making my good mood that was beginning to resurface fade away.  
-Well, go back to the underworld, let's go! -I masked and turned around to look at myself in the mirror.  
My bad mood was repressing him with my father and important people, to reserve him for the slaves, and she was of course their queen as far as I was concerned. And it was exclusive...whoever dared to unload their filthy problems with her would pay dearly for getting dirty and messing with something of Bellatrix Lestrange.  
She always told me the minimum, she only knew that she was from Jerusalem and I was not her first owner obviously, the rest was a complete mystery, so I was not surprised that her affair did not tell me... more now that I thought about it, she told me even the state of marriage of that innkeeper of Subura....  
The Barbarian had fought in the Coliseum a couple of weeks ago against a huge trinovante. It was a hard and bloody fight. They spent twenty minutes swapping swords in the sand. I couldn't move a muscle, but suddenly I got distracted and decided to argue for a while with my father for fun...  
-To be honest, I don't know why people make such a fuss," I said. He's nothing but a barbarian giant.  
-The audience loves him," said my father. -You have to admit he's good, he's got the trinovante on his knees.  
But despite Harry's disdain as he marched through the Gate of Life, he looked bloody and breathless. A voice in my head whispered to me: When will they kill him?  
The truth... I had already thought of something unusual and, above all, very amusing.  
It took me a few days to make it known so that by my standards it would be the perfect date. All these days my slave escaped at night, suddenly I could hear burning voices and something guttural.  
-And who is this innkeeper? Can I kill him?- I could hear one of those nights before I recognized Hermione's babbling whispers.

-Six against one! -I exclaimed, and fanned myself with my hand.- I can't wait any longer! By the gods, when are you going to put an end to those zebras so that the fun can begin?  
In the background there was the roar of the crowd, the cracking of the whip in the sand, the neighing of the animals. They were the festivities of the Agonalia, in honour of Jano, the god of the two faces that marked the beginning of the year. Down below, in the era, there was a wild hunt. Men armed with spears chased zebras. But that was only the prelude to the great show: Harry the Barbarian would face six Hispanics.  
Six against one, I repeated myself. Six against one!  
I knew it would be splendid when I asked my father: "I know it's against the rules, but it's going to be a big fight. The masses love desperate situations!"  
These three months had been boring for my taste...I wanted a change now.  
-Hermione! Give me some more wine.  
She served my glass with frozen fingers. In the sand they had already removed the bodies of the dead animals and the midday executions were proceeding quickly, awaiting the appearance of Harry and the Hispanics.   
The voice of the presenter of the games came to me choked by the shouts of joy of the public:  
-We bring them... champions of Lusitania... ... Hispanic savages!  
Amidst a sea of applause, six elegant and bloodthirsty warriors with purple feathers made their appearance. Their swords reflected the glow of the sun as they greeted and cheered the audience. Their breath caused clouds of mist in the cold air.  
By the Gods.  
-And now... Brigantia's savages... unbeaten champion... Harry the Barbarian!  
They offered him a small platform on which to fight, something to equal the possibilities a little bit, and he climbed up with the help of his shield. He was very calm, indifferent to the wild cries that rained on his head, indifferent to the cold. But he seemed very small in the face of that fearsome horde of Hispanics. Terribly deadly. The trumpet that marked the beginning of the battle resounded. Hispanics swirled along the sides of the platform. The crowd in the stands rose to their feet, shouting in encouragement.  
Harry got rid of the first two as they climbed up the platform stairs, but two others managed to climb up the other side and the irons of their swords collided.  
The whole Coliseum was standing, trembling, and so was I. My thirst for blood spurted...whether it was six or just one, I yearned for it with all my might. Harry cut off the arm of one of his rivals at the elbow, but for my disdain for him, I would feel an attack of admiration for his skill.  
Harry turned and attacked, unable to take three steps in a row in that small ring, but reducing his enemies. The crowd returned to their seats to make bets. Just as I was breathing normally again, the unexpected happened.  
It was nonsense. Harry dodged an onslaught of a curved sword and for a moment lost his balance, staggered and fell.  
He landed on the ground with his back, hitting himself hard. He was not very tall, but for a moment he lost his breath. He tried to catch his breath, lifting his sword, but he already had the three Hispanics on him, savoring their victory, with their weapons raised. Still, he had time to catch one in the knee before disappearing from sight, hidden by the bodies of his rivals.  
I would have seen him fall out of my seat, of course I had Fortuna on my side and at that moment no one would stop to see me on the bilge floor. My father posed for his cup and all the spectators of the Coliseum held their breath.  
And suddenly, the jug of wine made a dull noise as it was thrown to the ground, spilling the wine at all our feet, Hermione was ahead, leaning on the marble railing gripping air in her lungs graphically to scream.  
-Mitte! -and all the inhabitants within a hundred yards round turned their heads. -Mitte! Mitte! Mitte!  
As it was a splendid afternoon, the games had been fun and the Barbarian had defended himself very well, other voices joined the horde:  
-Mitte! Mitte! Mitte!  
It was possible to see a bruised and bloody Harry barely getting to his feet. The roar filled my ears and I fixed my eyes on Hermione, who was on her knees.  
-What the hell is wrong with you?  
She looked up, dizzy. Her face was unraveled and her breath shaken, and surely her little heart at the speed of a hummingbird's wings. When she finally turned her sight to mine, it was peaceful again.  
-I'm sorry, ma'am.  
-How dare you shout in public! A slave doesn't speak unless ordered to - and I kicked her in the side.- Get up!  
She stood up, leaning on the railing.  
I pushed her aside and reclined on the cushions of my seat, while Harry limped away, leaning on a spear, and the Hispanics greeted the audience. I frowned as the employees of the amphitheater cleaned the sand, stirring restlessly and trying to calm my great craft. Finally, I announced that I had a headache and that it was too cold to stay on the street, so I had to go home instantly. My mind had several plans in mind at the time and I wanted to refresh myself, to think with a cool head how to execute each and every one effectively and above all in the most surprising and brutal way.  
She walked after me home, changed my dress for a nightgown, fanned me, gave me a massage in which I made sure to make the most of it...not every day you could buy someone with her quality I had to admit, when it was the turn of my breasts and buttocks he did it with regained determination, whether or not she did it out of haste I was careless... I did it wonderfully daily without having to tell her, she brought me a glass of barley water and waited until I ordered him to leave. Then she went out and minutes later I could watch her run awkwardly towards the exit of the manor.  
I leaned back and let myself rest for a while, in no way would I let any kind of heat enter my next cold action... no setback, no doubt and above all no remorse. When it was well into the night and I was very sure that the whole house was asleep, I set out in a dark layer, similar to the horrible previous ones I had used to go to the underworld, only this time I took care of wearing a bright blue jewel and very expensive on my wrist discovered ... attractive, provocative ... very inciting; but only for someone, someone in particular, the bracelet seal was well known in the city, so a poor devil I saw pass in the street, when it saw him, would go from seeing me from a fat prey falling from the sky to a deadly hook that promised the worst tortures if I laid a hand on him.  
Yes, I went to the underworld just like her, to meet someone like her. Well, I also had a few things to settle with her, but as expected I wouldn't say a word, too bad I didn't leave her any other option in mind! And much more than after seeing so many examples, I would never have learned the first reading: no one was playing with me; now I was going to have a pleasant conversation and then arrive at the outcome and end it with a "done deal".

-Don't entertain yourself, Hermione! We have a thousand errands to run," I ordered him the next day, and then I firmly addressed the porters of my litter: "To the Roman Forum!  
The porters, six blonde-haired Gauls, lifted the bunk on their shoulders and advanced among the morning crowd. The slave who accompanied me eternally was in a quite calm and cheerful state compared to the previous day. The winter wind was sharp and cold, and carried the cries of the vendors from street to street. When she was a distance from my bunk I began to hear her humming (as if I couldn't hear them).  
I glanced at him looking out of the corner of my eye, she was toying with her bruised wrists which had very old scars now, barely visible Would she have solved their little mutual problem? Her legs were shaking from moment to moment and in fact she walked with a lot of grace that we can say  
-Stop chirping, Hermione!  
She closed her animated mouth instantly. I tapped the bunk for the porters to lower it to the ground. Wrapped in my emerald green palla, I walked through the crowd with my eyes looking for my target.  
-Where will it be?  
-Are you waiting for someone, madam?  
I didn't answer and I kept looking...if I was late I was going to pay the consequences, that was for sure, and if I didn't arrive I was a dead man. The only thing I wanted was to finish quickly and without obstacles and then have fun for a while, I was very close to my wedding with Dumbleore and wanted to make the most of my singleness even though it was long.  
I sent Hermione to buy a bag of candied fruits from a salesman in front of the temple of Jupiter. I saw for my relief and growing emotion the man, an ordinary merchant that I met one day (of course the meeting was neither desired nor satisfactory when it came to that plague in the pile), I never thought of seeing any use in anything, but I realized that dealing with unpleasant situations could always remain as a ring to the finger for unpleasant people.   
Hermione arrived with the bag in an exquisite moment, her angelic face distilled in such a dramatic way that the philosophers and artist called with such determination innocence. She observed the man who accompanied us evaluating him, surely realizing how remarkable he was of the men with whom I used to see myself. A middle-aged man, bald and in a thick woven robe. I saved my smile for later and observed the reverence she gave me while she gave me the candied fruits. The man looked at her ass in the process  
What wouldn't be her surprise when the bald man took her by the hip and asked me in a hoarse, vulgar tone:  
-This is it? Yes, Domina is ardent," he squeezed the ass sharply.  
-Okay, but first things first, you better not try to approach the smart with the payment  
She finally looked at me as she came out of her stupor:  
-Ma'am?  
I took some fruit from the bag and continued saying to the man:  
-Besides, it's cultured. She speaks Greek and Latin.  
-Don't think that that's why I'm going to pay more, you dominate. Languages are of little use to a prostitute. How old are she?  
-Eighteen, she has experience, I assure you.  
-No!" she exclaimed desperately. My lady.... I have served her well. If I've done something wrong, I promise you it won't happen again. What have I done?  
I kept saying to the man in a cold voice:  
-When I couldn't get customers, gladiators were offered for free. Do you understand why I want to get rid of her?  
-I understand, master," said the bald man, and gave me a sharp look at the seal. "But can you sell her? This woman belongs to her father.  
-My father never opposes my designs. Besides, I offer it to you for a good price. Five thousand sesterces?  
-Done.  
The man put a little bag in my palm. In an accurate and abrupt movement, Hermione went off and ran, but she hit one of my porters, who surrounded her with his arms and left her on the ground.  
-No! No! No!  
-Be careful with her," I said. Holding the bag that contained the value of her life according to our civilization... well, she couldn't complain, I'd remember her for a considerable time for an insect. -She's a flatterer. At the slightest chance she tries to escape.  
-I've been dealing with these kind of girls for years," said the man, and slapped her with his huge palm. -Take it easy, girl, or I'll whip you, understand?  
Oh, that was pleasant, that face.  
Where was that usual imperturbable façade? I finally got it, I unmasked it so that it would show itself as it is: a vulnerable and vulgar girl, coming from the main miserable heresy of our civilization.  
-You're not going to sell her around here, are you? -I gave her another boring look. -I don't want to have her bothering me.  
She was still twisting in a bunch of iron limbs in which she was trapped, on the verge of tears.  
-I work in the south. At the foot of the road to Brundisium... port city. Port brothels pay well for Roman whores.  
-All right," I said, and this time I went to her. -Well, Mione, you wouldn't think I was going to tolerate it. Run away from home to sleep with gladiators!  
\- You've been following me," she said in a broken voice.  
-It wasn't necessary. I only looked out the window a couple of nights, early in the morning, to see if you were coming back from your mysterious night errands, and I caught you. What passionate farewells! I already had my suspicions, of course. Especially after that demonstration of affection at the Coliseum... You haven't been very intelligent, darling.  
The Gaul holding her by her elbows let go of one hand to scratch his cheek. She took the opportunity to release an arm and threw a violent scratch on my cheek, just before the bald man grabbed her hair and pulled her so hard that she shot out towards the far end of the square.  
-You didn't tell me that she was so wild, Domina" the man protested.  
-It doesn't matter," I replied, climbing to my bunk with my cheek held in throbbing pain, but only increased my victory by looking at her coldly from my golden hand mirror. -Now it's your responsibility.  
I closed the silk curtains, starting to walk...Fuck you Hermione!  
-Get up, girl," shouted the bald man. -Do you understand me?  
Brothels, dirty men... Just a few minutes ago she was a respectable and impassive slave, personal servant of one of the wealthiest families in Rome, now she was nothing more than a piece of meat completely exposed and available to anyone, that face would never be quiet between panting and male members pointing at her.  
I could still hear the scald in the back... nobody would help you, the tribunes would laugh, the matrons would pick up their skirts, the other slaves would look away so that their bad luck wouldn't infect them...  
And your lethal hero wasn't here...all right, I didn't hurt another attempt with that one...did he?  
-I'd better put chains on him -I heard in the distance  
After a heartbreaking howl that shook the most insensitive...it was possible to hear the scandal of the vicious pimp and his servants chasing his purchase, which apparently came out shot like a comet...

HARRY

-Buy her? -said Alastor, who stopped writing and set aside the style of his beads board. -Boy, you don't have to buy her. You already have what you want without spending money, don't you? Why buy a cow when you can drink...?  
-With the money from my prizes, of course, its can pay for their value.  
-The money from your prizes? Boy, who keeps the accounts here? Who organizes and plans everything? Who is in charge of advertising?  
-Who's risking their lives?  
-Okay, but you haven't lost it yet, have you? -He dribbled his fingers on his pink cheek. Well, you've been pretty good lately. I suppose you deserve a prize. You win the next fight, and we'll see what we can do.  
-Done.  
I waited in the garden that night, but Mione didn't show up. I assumed that I had not been able to escape from that sheep she owned. The bed was empty without she. I missed the warmth of her body huddled next to me, her fingers intertwined with mine, her loose hair rubbing against my arms. I smiled, and it was no longer strange to laugh. I then allowed myself to relive the night she gave me yesterday, this time it didn't come suddenly, nor because I couldn't contain myself; and she surrendered, and I never thought that the glory was so intense...we both suffered, I knew it, when she entered my cell suddenly it was the first thing we faced...and she was still alive, all my life since I set foot in Rome I left my life in the hands of the gods, whoever they were, death was always accompanying me and for me everything was in order with that... but no more. I would just take my life away from them, an adrenaline and a motivation that I had never had before began to emerge yesterday, one that I never thought I could feel.  
-I'll win the rudius,- I swore to him as I held her face in my hands. I'll be free and take you to the cloudy mountains of Brigantia.  
-No... they'll kill you, I know.  
-Yes-I grabbed her chin. -I'll do it, Hermione.  
-I'm a slave, I'll never be free  
-When you are legally mine in exchange for any silver prize, the path that is missing will be simpler and narrower and less narrow at the same time.  
With that I ended the discussion, she looked me in the eyes and released all her repremended emotions...I felt happy to be her spectator in spite of the sombreness of the matter.  
It wasn't until her agony and relief began to mingle with desire.  
-Take me  
-Mione  
-Take me Harry  
Time seemed to have stood still all night... I don't know, I was just haunting the memory of my ecstasy as I saw her on my hip as we moved in such a delightful sway, her cheeks red and her chest moving up and down... I didn't fit in me.  
I trained the next day and then sat down to watch the beginners' fights.  
-Don't move your feet so much! -I shouted at an Oriental boy wearing a trident. -Look, I'm going to teach you.  
I began to give lessons to the novices, just as in the past my brothers did with me, just as one day I would do with the children that Hermione gave me.  
-Barbarian! -One of Alastor's slaves called me from the shadows. A woman wants to see you.  
I stuck the practice sword in the sand and ran out of the courtyard. I opened the door of my cell and smiled when I saw her by the window, with her back and hood on.  
-Are you...?  
Suddenly, I froze.  
-I'm sorry," said Bellatrix Lestrange, as she turned and removed her hood to uncover her black-haired bush. -Hermione couldn't make it.  
I instinctively moved away  
-Is this how you receive a friend? -Bellatrix mocked. She elegantly removed her cloak and revealed a jade green dress and a pearl necklace around her neck. -We used to be good friends, Harry.  
-Where's Hermione? - and the words echoed in ears.  
-Well, let's say she's gone," she replied, leaning on the edge of the bed and tilting her head like a curious bird. Quite a long way, dear Harry.  
Something broke loose in the mouth of my stomach.  
-What do you mean?  
-My father sold it. A slave trader took her, yesterday morning, I think.  
A slave trader!  
-Where to?  
-How should I know? -Bellatrix said, looking at her golden nails.- I'm not very interested in slave things.  
The room began to turn and turn white. It was the same feeling I had when a shield crashed into my head.  
-I know you liked her," Bellatrix added, "but she wasn't worth it. I'm serious.  
Hermione! Hermione! with her exotic eyes squinting as she sang. Hermione laughing sarcastically at night, Hermione hugging me in the dark portal, and teaching me logic and sense of things. Hermione!  
-The truth is that it bothered me enough that you chose her," said Bellatrix, caressing my arm with her soft hands. -But I think I can forget it. Will you help me forget it, Harry?  
Hermione! Hermione! Hermione!  
I approached her and took her face in my hands. Bella blinked and lasciviously nibbled my thumb.  
-Fucking bitch!  
I grabbed her by the hair and threw her against the wall. She bounced and staggered. Before she could get up, I took the knife I had on the table and threw it on the bed. Putting the edge on her white neck, I asked her:  
-Where is Hermione? Where?  
Bellatrix took a breath to scream, but I covered her mouth with my hand. She bit me with her sharp teeth, but the demon ran through my veins and I didn't feel the pain.  
-I'll cut you like a steak. Where is it?  
The girl turned under my weight without success, throwing threats drowned by my hand, which ran the knife through her thick hair and cut a black lock. Showing it to her:  
-I'll shave your head like a leper if you don't tell me where it is.  
The brown eyes were spitting poison into my hand.  
I pulled out another handful of hair.  
-Where is it?  
-In a brothel, that's where she is! -Bellatrix shouted when I loosened my hand. -In any lupanar of the Roman Empire where savages pay to sleep with whores.  
Another lock of silky hair fell to the ground.  
-Where?  
-How should I know? Do you think I care? She's far, far away, sleeping with any brute on the outskirts of the city, and you'll never see her again.  
Again, an explosion of white blinded me, and Bellatrix Lestrange shouted and shouted as I tore off her hair. Her necklace broke and the pearls rang like rain on a shield. It took five of Alastor's henchmen to get my hands off the girl's neck.  
-Lady Bellatrix! -exclaimed Alastor.- I'm so sorry... This brute will receive a severe corrective...  
She pushed him away. She looked horrible, I thought, with a red face of rage and a span of scalp sticking out, hair pulled out. I saw her mouth open spitting virulent curses, but nothing reached my ears. Even when they took her out of the room, shouting that she would take revenge, and Alastor lashed out at me, I could hear nothing.

The following month I fought three Mauritanians in the Coliseum, a fight no one would forget. I pierced the ear of the first with my sword, then split the skull of the second with a blow from my shield, and when the third threw his sword and raised a hand asking for mercy, I threw myself at him and slit his throat with my hands. The crowd carried me on my shoulders through the streets that night, breaking windows, jugs of wine, heads... I, in the front row, roared and fought. I lifted a whole barrel of wine over my head to drink from it, I broke the jaw of a drunk who stepped on me, and when a prostitute threw herself at my neck and kissed me, I gave her back the kiss until she bled. The dawn of winter, cold and grey, surprised me returning to the street of Mars, with punctures of pain in the temple and the tunic stained with blood.  
-Wow, you're back at last," Alastor greeted me coldly. -I should hit you on the head like a rabid dog.  
I staggered before him, indifferent.  
-But we can consider ourselves fortunate, young man, for two reasons: First, it seems that Lestrange has not told her father about your shameful behaviour. Otherwise, her guards would have already knocked on the door to ask for your head. And, secondly, the governor of Hispania has sent this as a reward for your excellent combat.  
He showed me a heavy sack of coins.  
-You keep things like this coming, and I'll protect you. Do you hear me, boy?  
A sudden burst of animal grunts and roars attracted my attention.  
-Dogs," I said, and turned away from my lanista. -They're killing some bug.  
-I'm not done yet, boy, come back here.  
With staggering steps, I crossed the street and approached the mass of dogs. The growls turned to howls when I kicked them away. The animals barked away. Everyone except the cat they were attacking, an orange-haired kitten covered in bites and with a severed leg. I knelt beside her and took a stone to burst her head.  
But the kitten had huge eyes that stared at me. Sad amber eyes. I threw the stone to the ground and picked up the animal, careful not to touch the broken leg.  
-I don't want bugs in the barracks! -exclaimed Alastor, picking up the skirts of his tunic when I passed him. -I'm sure he has illnesses.  
I slammed the door and left him with the word in his mouth. I posed the kitten on my bed and looked at her for a moment.  
-You won't make it to tomorrow.  
I was surprised to see the cat nibbling on my finger. What a silly bug! The best thing would be to twist her neck, but instead, I took some leftovers from the kitchen and gave them to her to eat.  
-Mione," and the echo of my voice echoed in the silent room, "may I call you that?  
The kitten was frightened at the sound of my voice. Her soft skin trembled with cold.  
-No, you're too scared to call yourself that.  
I had only seen the fear in Hermione once, the night I met her, I thought she was scared when I caught her in the middle of the darkness...but no, now that I thought about it, she was only cautious in giving me a wordless warning of the consequences if I dared to harm her in that place...once she showed genuine fear.  
-You don't need a name... I don't think you'll make it to tomorrow.  
The nameless cat nibbled on a corner of my pillow, and I covered my face with the sheets and cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who follow me  
After this chapter...the plot evolves radically:)  
Get ready for these changes...Thank you for reading!


	4. IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here new chapter, quite long because of the waiting time ;)

HERMIONE

I opened my wrist with a firm cut from the piece of metal I had found and confiscated, and I watched as blood poured out of my veins. This time I did not have my blue pot, only the Tiber... which I already knew the route by heart. Like many new areas and streets...as well as others already known from long ago, these were not many as I was almost out of town.  
After escaping and sneaking away with desperate measures like a gazelle about to be preached, I was lost in the temporality of wandering again without direction or home...God knows who or what (at this point it was just a facade to my spirit my supposed Lord), the ways and attempts to go to the street of Mars. The man's subjects had been wandering around for weeks trying to find a clue to my whereabouts, ironically; since all this time I was so close and so far away. I had a year's experience in the "wild" homeless life...and an endless mastery of the concept "keep an eye on your vicious enemies" since I was six years old...and with this I could discern that it was impossible, and after so many laps I ended up in unknown places from which I saw no way out because of my ignorance...and from there I began to wander in my unconscious knowing the world from the point where you could...memorizing stretches as with scars you could...  
I got dizzy coming down the rickety stairs, but it wasn't because of the blood. My heart ached like a stab wound every time it happened...one of my deepest fears was coming true after avoiding it since I was twelve. Two months had passed since the incident, but when I posed the knife edge on my wrist, ready to release a stream of blood that would carry the child away, my hand would stop. Wasn't I giving up on life even in this situation? I thought furiously. But neither with the fury nor the sadness invading me was I able to kill my insatiable desire to continue exploring and to know how much I could...  
But even if I had tried with all my conviction, it would have been a complete challenge, probably lost.  
The son of Harry the Barbarian wasn't going to be scared off by a little blood.

HELENA  
In the temple of Vesta

Ignotus has been murdered, executed for treason. My husband and cousin, dead.  
I had to attend execution. His accusing eyes looked at me when the guards took him away. He is dead, and I am left alone.  
-New emeralds, Helena? -Albus asks me on his next visit.  
-A gift from my uncle. -They surround my throat like a bright green snake  
He likes me to wear green, not silver or gray. "My wife likes gray," he once told me, "and I hate it. You should wear green." He could have told me any other color.  
-Jewels are a way of apologizing," Albus says calmly, "of telling you that he doesn't hold the sins of Ignotus against you.  
-Sins? -What sins? -My voice sounds like a scream, the words flow from me like a torrent. When I talk to him about the voices I hear in the shadows and the eyes that watch me from the corners, Albus seems worried. He asks me to sit on a marble bench in the atrium and starts chatting about worldly matters. It's a great relief to me. Sometimes, he reminds me of my father.  
-You can feel pain for Ignotus, -he tells me-, no one will blame you for that.  
Ignotus was never good to me. After a couple of weeks, he started sleeping in his own bed and we only saw each other at dinner time. He looked at me in a strange way, and then I realized that she had gone back to talking to herself and biting my nails until they bled. He was angry with me when I refused to eat in her sumptuous new triclinium, with golden beasts carved into the wall.  
-I see their eyes," I said in a low voice, "and they are watching me.  
-By the gods, Helena!  
But I always see eyes. Especially my uncle's. He tells me I should call him "uncle", instead of "lord and god".  
-Also the lords and gods must have someone who doesn't fear them.  
But I am afraid, and he is lord and God, at least of my world.  
-Like slates, -I tell Albus- his eyes are like slates.  
Again, he looks troubled.  
-Do you find yourself... Are you all right?  
Vesta, holy mother, goddess of earth and home... How I envy your vestals, surrounded by silence in the temple, with their white robes, intact, without any man having treated them with pain and death. I wish I had been a vestal. I always feel safe there, and I see no eyes.  
Vesta, protect me. I have faith only in you.

BELLATRIX  
88 A.D.

Even my new pearls could not comfort me.  
-Get out of here! -I yelled at Hanna, and threw a perfume bottle at her.- I can't stand your stupid face anymore. Get out!  
She left between sobs. What a stupid cow! She turned my hair into a haystack every time she touched it. I'll send her to the slave market and find myself a new maid. A senator's wife deserves no less.  
But did it matter that my hair looked like a haystack? What good was it, if no one could see it?  
-Bella? -I heard the usual knock on my door. -I heard a knock.  
-It was only a bottle of perfume, Albus. -I'm sorry. Hanna dropped it.-  
I prepared my captivating smile. My husband came in and kissed me on the cheek. His ugliness was out of tune in my beautiful blue and gold bedroom. As usual, he smelled of ink.  
-Were you in the library, as usual?   
-I can't find Cicero's Commentaries.  
-Slaves don't keep things well for you. You should have a stronger hand.  
-It's not necessary. Searching the shelves is a lot of fun.  
Funny! Bellatrix Dumbledore, the envy of Rome, married to a man who entertains himself by glancing at scrolls.  
-How sweet! -I muttered.  
\- How about you? -His eyes were fixed on mine. -Are you having fun?  
-I haven't unpacked half my stuff yet. And the city... -I added, and waved my hand in contempt. Well, Brundisium may not be Rome, but I imagine I'll find something to do. They're replenishing Phaedra at the theatre. Oh, and I've bought some more pearls. They were so beautiful I couldn't resist.  
-Buy yourself anything you want, -he said with a smile. -See? I told you a little peace would do you good.  
-Maybe you were right.  
I had to hold back my laughter.  
-Draco's coming to dinner tonight, with some friends. It'll be like a little party. You'll have a good time, you'll see.  
A little party. The serious one of Draco, Albus' stepson, and a bunch of old men who will start talking about the Republic. After four years of dining in the company of senators, provincial governors, the most important patricians in Rome...  
-Of course I'll have fun, Albus. I'll have fun. I'll tell the cook to prepare that rosemary venison that Draco likes so much.  
-I've asked him to come soon. Delphi loves his bedtime stories.  
-You spoil her too much! -She already has a mistress to tell her stories.  
-But she prefers Draco. What are we going to do?  
He kissed me on the cheek again. Aghs, the smell of ink! And she slowly withdrew.  
I waited until he was far away and threw another bottle of perfume at the door. I hate Albus! I hate him, I hate him, I hate him.

DRACO

I lowered my sword at the sight of my opponent's gesture of pain.  
-Are you all right, Blaise? -Did I...  
Blaise suddenly stood up and planted his sword in my neck.  
-I got you! I knew you'd bite. Do you give up?  
-I surrender.  
We sheathed our swords, left the hot practice circle and headed for Praetorian Guard headquarters.  
-You have to go in for the kill, Dumbledore. You're supposed to be Godric's great-grandson, but you fight like a chicken.  
I knocked him down with a key and we fought our way through the sun-drenched courtyard. A couple of praetorians got out of our way, cursing us between jokes.  
-Surrender! -I moaned, as I stuck his thumbs down Blaise's throat.  
-I surrender, I surrender.  
We entered the praetorian baths, took off our sweat-stained robes, and dropped into the hot steam of the laconicum. Through the clouds of steam, Blaise groped for the wine pourer.  
-Are you going to Gregory's dinner tonight? -I am.  
-I can't, -I said, passing a towel over my forehead.  
-You're having another party? . -He laughed. -An intimate dinner for two?  
-No.  
-Come on, let it go. With that singer you're courting... What's her name? Penelope?  
-Persephone. And no, it's not with her.  
-I don't blame you, she's a nice, graceful piece of work. But it's a bit expensive, she always demands little gifts... the bad tongues say that she's a swindler. How much is this intimate dinner going to cost you?  
-I'm having dinner with my father, you asshole. He's in town.  
-Wow, so with your father... I thought he never left the Senate.  
-Don't you know anything? The Senate doesn't meet in the summer. It closes, like schools.  
I instructed the bathroom staff to leave when they came with oils and strigils. I didn't feel comfortable while other people's hands were rubbing me.  
-So maybe I'll pay the singer a visit for you. I will tell her that you miss her while you are listening to the backbone of the Empire praising the virtues of the Republic in Alexandrian verse.  
Blaise moaned with pleasure as the bath attendant ran a strigilator across his back, wiping away the sweat.  
-Or maybe I'll go to dinner for you, while you go begging to her, and I'll go to see that sexy stepmother of yours.  
-Hey!  
-Oh, don't start. I'm just expressing my sincere admiration for that appetizing creature who happens to be, legally, your mother...  
I threw in a towel. In the ensuing fight, we knocked over a tray of bath oils. I instructed the slaves to leave it, and I placed the jars in perfect lines.  
-You know? -commented Blaise, lying on a marble table and gesturing to the masseuse-I never thought your father would end up marrying a child three times his age. My father, the old bastard, is four times his age, but yours  
I ran the strigil over my arm, collecting the sweat. I remembered I'd thought the same thing. "Father, that Lestrange... Well... she's a child," I told her five years ago. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't..." My stepfather smiled and said: "It's a natural commentary. I know what people think: the mature man with a young woman. I don't mind being a laughing stock." An angry color flooded my cheeks. No one was going to make fun of him as long as I was around. "Who's laughing?" I asked him. "Everyone," he answered coolly. "If anyone says anything about you..." I commented, angry, to which my stepfather replied: "Don't get upset, son. They say I've lost my head over a young girl who could be my daughter. They don't know that these are orders from the emperor, against my will. I think Bella and I can get along, though," Albus smiled. I have no illusions, Draco, not at my age. But she likes me, and she can be nice.  
Unfortunately, I knew rather well that my mother had not been too... nice. "Nice? -my Aunt Minerva once said. Draco, she was a whore." "Aunt Minerva...", I tried to protest, but I was unable to refute that argument. I was only three when my mother divorced my father Malfoy and ten when he died, but I remembered his screams and how he tore things up when he was angry. I remembered that he once threw the one hundred and forty-two volumes of Titus Livius' Ab Urbe Conditi into the fountain in the atrium. "It wasn't a very good edition," my stepfather had calmly commented.  
Well, if he wanted some peace at his age, welcome to it. But nobody was going to make fun of him, at least not in front of Draco Abraxas Dumbledore Malfoy.  
Blaise was still talking, his voice drowned out by the marble massage table.  
-I know you're reluctant to ask your father for help, though I don't see why. If he were my father, I'd have asked him for a prefecture by now. But if you don't want to be transferred to the head of Germania, ask him for me.  
-Do you still dream of war and glory on the Rhine? -  
-Every night. I always wake up just when the emperor grants me a laurel wreath and offers me a triumph. I wish we had been with him in Tapae!  
-Seems like he managed pretty well without us.  
-Well, Tom has gone out to the Emperor Salazar, I'll give him that. Ask Rufus Escaurus to tell you about his campaigns with Gellert in Judea, he has some tremendous stories...  
When I was a boy, my greatest dream was to one day save the emperor's life. To stand in the way of a poisoned dart, to knock down a murderer with one stab, to appease a whole horde of barbarians... glory. Childish dreams. Making my father proud was better than any laurel wreath or triumph.  
-Hey, wake up. You've got to go and bow your head and flatter Dad and his lovely wife," said Blaise, and winked. -I'll give Penelope your love.  
-Her name is Persephone.  
-I'll give her something else anyway.  
I threw a scraper at her.

-Linen!  
I heard the scream as soon as I crossed the door of my father's house, and my knees shook with emotion. I burst out laughing and bent down to hug my four-year-old stepsister.  
-How you've grown, Delphini! You're already a lady.- I caressed the light hair of the girl, who smiled. She was small, thin as a bird and had a shiny face. I was very happy when she was born, because I always wanted to have a sister. She was very fragile, and sometimes she had small epileptic seizures, but her smile was beautiful. Albus looked at us smiling as he crossed the atrium with his pool of blue tiles and complicated mosaics.  
-Delphi! What kind of manners are these? -said Bellatrix, making a brilliant appearance wrapped in pink and red silk and adorned with pink pearls.  
She looked beautiful, too. I couldn't believe she was Delphi's mother. She seemed too sweet and innocent to carry a child, much less to endure it. Delphi's funny little face got serious and bowed solemnly. I greeted her in the praetorian style and winked at her.  
-That's better," said Bellatrix.- You may now leave. Albus! Your guests have arrived.  
Delphi disappeared like a yellow ray. His mother, like a bird of paradise, went after her into the marble triclinium with its grey streaks. He turned in Bella's brilliant wake.  
-I'm sorry I didn't write sooner, Draco. I know it was a sudden arrival.  
-I wonder... change of plan?  
-Indeed," he replied tersely, "I'll explain later. Well, I think you know most of my guests. Druso Emilio Sulpicio, Aulo Sosiano, that unbearable Urbico of the septemviri. He's clever, but...  
Dinners at my father's house were few and far between. The same guests talking quietly on their cushions, the same simple dinner, the same speaker with white beards declaiming verses in Greek. (Why did Greek speakers always have white beards?) The same philosophical jokes circulating on the mattresses. When I was a child, those dinners had always bored me to death. And they still did, but now I knew that my father brought to the table the finest minds in the Empire. As soon as they started quoting Plato (a common occurrence), I would get lost, but I felt comfortable lying between cushions contemplating my simple stepfather so at home among the greatest sages of Rome. It was comforting to know that your father was as brilliant as you thought he was as a child.  
He looked better in those days. He seemed cleaner, more distinguished. Of course, it was all Bellatrix's doing. I looked sideways at my stepmother who, lying on the cushions, took grapes from a silver platter. The stretched line of her neck was very young and, in a way, fragile. She barely opened her mouth for the whole evening. I felt some sympathy for her. She would probably find herself a little lost, married to such a brilliant man. She was very young (twenty-four, like me). She hardly seemed older than when she first saw her, at the age of nineteen, wrapped in the red wedding veil. I smiled at him.

ALBUS

Everything went on as before and always, such a haughty calm was my ideal environment. My "friends," so to speak, a Greek speaker and all our discussions about the fate of the Empire. Some would bring up Plato again and again with energetic discussions, and after several premises of personal conversations throughout the evening I was asked to present my treatises.  
-I find your comments on the decline in births very interesting, Dumbledore.  
And I was giving them as little input as possible, but I was explaining as much as possible about them. Yes, I had written my position very carefully on why this was happening; since I am not particularly affected by the fact that the population has been reduced in general (indeed, I think it would be preferable for the world): if the Empire wishes in the future to have all the extension known and not to become vulnerable, it is not convenient that the inhabitants continue to be reduced, but well, the imposing Caesar has considered every contribution of mine unworthy.The evening seemed to come to an end, on many occasions it represented peace for me, and my comfort zone lasted an average of three hours and then they would leave at random, just as it was happening right now  
Draco was the last to leave. He insisted I accompany him upstairs to say good night to Delphi. The way they looked at the little bed gave me a mixture of grace and tenderness. He, too, had been captivated by the warm beauty of my little flower, though I could never say that in her I see his mother, who looks as much like a jungle as a wheat field. She was like a foggy light, where there could be a glow, but she was fragile, with those attacks that gave her was like a cycle, came to have them in public and frightened those present asking that the "evil" had come to her ... My daughter had a lot to deal with in life.  
-It seems that the party was a success, my dear," I said to my wife when we finally said goodbye to Draco.  
-Yes, my dear," she replied with a smirk.  
I took her hand and brought it to my lips. We kissed long but slowly.  
-Will you spend this night with me? -she said maliciously. She had her own bedroom (she wanted to and I thought it was fair), and I always went in with her permission. But from time to time she let me in. That was part of the routine that we built up in order to be happy.  
-I'll be glad to, after I tell Delphi his good night story.  
-What a good father you are.  
She kept her poses and angora kitten gestures like six years ago.  
My wedding had been quite an occasion ironically. She dazzled with her white dress, the crimson veil, the procession, the sacrifice in the temple... Everything went perfectly. Well, except for the royal presence, of course, to me. However, it was not so hard for me to ignore the cynical actions of a certain man and see the positive and enjoyable side of that change in my life. At the wedding, she graciously took most of the attention away from me, would I be considered the most beautiful woman in Rome perhaps? The most popular today I am certain even a pair of gladiators fought in her honor.  
No, it was not the Barbarian. His lanista took him on a tour of the provinces. Strangely enough, he did not show his face in Rome for a long time, and was already trying out other provinces and perhaps wanting to make himself known elsewhere live. During the preparations for that festival in our honor Bella had undoubtedly been offered the number one gladiator, but she rejected the proposal almost with repudiation and with somewhat intense comments for a Domina, that came to surprise me at the time.  
Well, it was a wonderful day, simply wonderful. But the night... As tradition dictates, I should have walked through the door with her in my arms, but I was too old and weak already. It was my stepson who did it, and then they all went away and left me alone with my wife in a dark room.  
-What happened to your hair? -watching in amazement his silky, unevenly sized hair. Now I was realizing why she had been wearing her head covered from one time to the next.  
-An old woman attacked me with a pair of scissors in an alleyway," she said candidly. My hair is probably now adorning the wig of some bald midwife.  
I nodded in astonishment, I wanted to ask questions about the woman and hold her to account, but her nodding told me to forget it.  
The barbarian returned from his tour of the provinces once, and just at that time Rebastan had been promoted from game organizer to praetor, and despite his charm for games, more money was more money.  
She offered me his most charming smile, I took her hand.  
-Bella, I want to make one thing clear to you," I said as I sat beside her. What happens from now on is up to you. If you want this marriage to be only on the surface for a while, I understand.  
-Don't be silly, Albus," she said in a funny, playful voice.- I want to be a real wife, with children...  
She kept talking about those subjects and I was filled with passion. Finally, she came up to me and kissed me, and that was it.  
I was loving, tender, careful. Maybe too careful. It was the least I could do. She groaned and looked at me with delight and kept on telling me that I had been wonderful, and I couldn't believe how such a creature could be... sometimes he seemed so naive to me. And I looked after her and pampered her as if she were a lovely creature, I almost let her do everything she wanted. Go anywhere, spend money on anything she wanted.  
The gods would know how many stolaes, combs, perfumes and so on she'd have by now. They were glorious years. For my part, I spent the day in the Senate.  
-Does it bother you that I get out so much? -she always asked me-I always wondered. I love parties and the theatre, dear. I'm not as bright and intellectual as you are.  
I used to kiss her cheek.  
-Of course not. You're young and beautiful and charming. Go out and have fun.  
She always thanked me with pampering before he sneaked off for her round of parties. Thus I was fully satisfied with my days, now I could also demonstrate one more aspect of life: no matter how different two beings are, if they learn to combine and live in company, it would be the atmosphere much more beautiful than any intensive carnal passion. I learned that Rebastan was regarded as a rather vulgar person, and it was not convenient for my wife to deal with him much anymore.  
Of course, there were issues, confusions and unevenness, as in everything  
-How do you stand being away from Delphi? - with a stunned face in front of the crib after our daughter was born.  
-I don't want to spoil her, dear," she answered, and went out, with her jade or sapphire silks showing her shoulders more than ever (it seemed that the pregnancy hadn't made her lose her figure), to meet senators, soldiers and tribunes, but she accompanied me to my events. Even if in matters of a fraternal nature I was still like an immature fruit.  
I was also well aware that she was the fruit of many men's desires, but it never meant a threat to me, it was also absurd to repress her because of the commotion it caused in other people.

But suddenly, the threat came. I ended up in Brundisium, a small coastal city, beautiful and with luxurious summer villas, a sapphire blue port and many exotic languages resounding on its docks, a hundred leagues from Rome. And more alert is everything that happens in all the surrounding cities and news of the Empire.  
My wife did not like it at all, but it was necessary, and if I told her why she would not understand or care.

DELPHI

-And then what happened? -I whispered, yawning in spite of myself.  
-Tomorrow we finish the story, honey. You're half asleep.  
-No, no... -I am.  
I yawned again, and he stroked my hair. My father's face looked tired with his ever-reflective air. He had told me ornate stories of his life that I interpreted. My brother Draco was not really, for he was the son of a defunct leader named Lucius Malfoy. His old wife never wanted children, I imagined she was very bad. "Queenie" came and took a marble bust of my grandfather and threw it at him. "I'm not like Queenie," my mother had told him when he arrived, and within a year of marriage to me: Delphini.  
-Good night," he said as he was leaving. Would he have any idea how much I loved him?  
-Albus? -I heard my mother talking to him as her footsteps wandered away. -Honey, come on, it's cold in that hallway.  
I didn't know, but I was constantly afraid... afraid that my father's love would be taken away from me.

HARRY

The fight was against a Thracian armed with a net and trident, very well known in Sicily but who was trembling. I killed him quickly and without regard, piercing his throat with my sword, and left through the Gate of Life. My admirers shouted for joy, and the demon yawned and retired to sleep in the back of my mind.  
-Very well, my boy," Alastor congratulated me without looking up from his accounts when I went to the doctor for my usual check-up. You can go out and get drunk if you like. Try to get back before it's daylight, will you?  
In the tavern I met the usual mass of fans, and there was the usual throwing of wine glasses at the windows. People had already learned to keep their distance. It was July, the streets were boiling under a scorching sun and everyone knew that my mood was getting worse in the summer heat. A girl approached me with a nervous smile.  
-I am Ginevra," she said shyly as she drank directly from a barrel of beer. You are the Barbarian, aren't you?  
I looked up. Blue eyes, red hair... It would do.  
-I've seen you in the amphitheatre... -I'm the Barbarian, right? You're a great warrior...  
I thumbed the stairs, which led to a little room the innkeeper let me use. The girl smiled and ran to the bed. I took her three times in a row as if there were no tomorrow, devoured and wore out her flesh to finish off her wounded sex, with bloody wounds in various parts of her body and with enough lack of air... but as happy and blissful as if it were a blessing from the Gods. An undemanding girl. None of the dozens of girls I slept with in those years I remembered. It was a matter of satisfying both vandals. They were supposed to want a melancholy, silent, intact barbarian.  
I was fine with that. I never wanted to talk to a woman again... ever again.  
I saw Hermione everywhere. And yet she was nowhere. What in this world could he visualize if she was completely apart from him?  
Her image was beginning to fade. The exact profile of her sinuous shape, her haughty temper, her beautiful hair and... and her face. Sometimes I would sit and close my eyes, trying to remember her until my head hurt. If I forgot her eyes, I'd forget everything.  
She'd probably be dead by now. . Well I managed to understand her hidden fears, already too late, that constant need to stop when the burning in the bed began to emerge... for the most sacred thing, just had to be after the catastrophe that I could understand what was happening in her advanced mind. Now she was in a brothel, I drowned my deep sorrow at the bottom of my mind... the touch that was left to crown all this melodrama, is there anything that causes more appreciation? And I knew perfectly well what situation she wouldn't allow, previously dead.  
I walked silently through the dark alleys back to the street of Mars. Alastor's guards let me in without a word. I had no curfew. I was even given an assignment. Everything very civilized, except death.  
My kitten was happy to see me come into the room. Curled up on my pillow, she was chewing on a leather glove.  
-It's the third pair of gloves you've ruined for me this year," I grumbled.  
The red kitten wagged her tail and jumped to the bottom of the bed. She had lost one paw in the attack of those stray dogs, but she handled herself very well with the other three. I lay down on the bed with a whimper of pain. My bones protested. The animal curled up between my knees.  
-You've got a nose for soft spots, eh? -Damn slut!  
I caressed its silky ear, and its clear gaze reminded me of Hermione.

HERMIONE

Black dress, silver bracelets, hair in braids: my combat uniform.  
-Persephone? -asked Pospertina, poking her jet-black curly head into my clean room. Do you know you have to sing at the party before Senator Abracto's dinner?  
-Yes, I'm ready," I replied as I adjusted one last bracelet and picked up my lyre.  
-Newt's going to put a big slave on you. Those chariots can get pretty rough.  
-How thoughtful -I smiled.  
Newt, my dear master.  
I was as old as a rag, surviving for three months in the port streets. Three months of stealing food, of hiding opportunistic people, of defending myself from poor dirty devils, of sneaking through sluices, through narrow alleys; almost leaving the city, with a growing belly. It was in a tavern on the outskirts of civilization where I sang catchy and commonplace epics for some copper, I was offered only half pieces and a piece of hard chicken, of course, offered in exchange for more bodily arts, it seemed to me the perfect occasion to make a raw plunder in that little place after pretending to be run off. The owner found me in the cellar, grabbed me by the rough arm, and was ready to throw me into the Tiber if necessary, plus a dark man who had his eye on me for a while paid the man a brass and took me like a sack far away, now definitely in another port. I ended up in a beautiful villa by the bustling forum of Brundisium, before my new master, a thin, pale faced man. Another pimp, I suppose.  
"My butler tells me you have a beautiful voice, girl." His polite patrician accent surprised me, as did the kindness of the eyes that assessed me. "He heard you singing on the windowsill of some detestable hovel on the way back. I don't want to know what he would be doing there, his recreational preferences are none of my business, but his musical taste is almost as good as mine. Tell me, can you sing Eyes of Cythera for me?  
After an hour's recital in the sunny atrium, my new teacher - who, apparently, was not a pimp - called the liberta who was more or less his wife. "Pospertina, wait till you see the new acquisition. What's your name, girl? Hermione? She's wonderful! Who would have thought? She should be taught from now on. A voice like this must be trained, cared for, shaped. Can you play the lyre? We'll teach you too. We'll make a singer out of you. Try it!"  
"Go on, shut up, Newt," said Pospertina with laughter. You're confusing the poor girl."  
The girl explained everything to me as I settled into a neat little room. "Newt buys musicians, it's his hobby. "Newt's farm," they call this place. This house is full of flutists, percussionists, lute players, a male choir... Don't look at me like that, woman. In this house the boys sing too. Newt only gets the best. He has a very good eye for talent."  
"What does he get out of it?" I asked. She patted me on the shoulder and said, "The pleasure of hearing you sing. You don't have to worry about a thing, darling. It doesn't bother the slaves. He's married to a conceited woman who lives in Rome. He doesn't go to town much, and here I am. And tell me, when are you expecting the baby? It won't be long now, will it? You better sleep with your feet up...  
The child was born early, soaking me in sweat like a wet robe. I held my breath, his cries penetrated to my insides, there he was, what I tried to avoid all my life at all costs, welcome my dear son, welcome to the world of slaves, outcasts, whores... of gladiators. My new master could not wait for my instruction to begin. "You'll have to study this thoroughly, girl. The Harmony of Aristoxen. It is essential that you understand enharmonic microtones."  
"Newt, please," protested Pospertina, "she's only been in labor thirty-six hours. A rather large baby, by the way!" she added, looking at the purple squeaky package that was my son. "Huge!" she said.  
"But you don't understand the difference between the highest note of a parthenian aulos and the lowest note of a hypertelian," Newt protested.  
"In order for me to agree to be of use to you, I require something in return," I said coldly before Tina could reply, the man looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I pointed to the crib with my head: "A place for my baby, I don't mean just physically, a place in society, and I won't be satisfied without knowing that his life is made from the first moment." Newt looked at me with suspicion, if he wasn't so defensive he might have understood his position on the duty to make a child of a slave a citizen.   
My son had come into the world howling, biting his own fist furiously, with some brown hair on his soft little head. I couldn't look at him without feeling a pinch of nostalgia run down my throat. He was basically a copy of my old lover... from my past, but despite the pain, the inevitable motherly love began to squeeze out of my pores like milk from my nipples. I let the bittersweet sensations take over for the last time to give it a name of its own, oh, I knew perfectly well what it should be called.  
Newt got down to business after all. His brother was none other than a captain in the praetorian guard of Brundisium, I do not recall well what parental favors he gave him, before handing over the creature, a gift, a new future recruit in their ranks of the Empire. "Do not attempt to please the audience, Hermione. You have to win them over." And from there I allowed myself to greet my new life with a kiss "You must start from the premise that, in matters of music, I am always right" Perhaps the most decent and hopeful stage since I came into the world, I was now the star of that port, and soon, not because of "the Farm", but because of me, I was figuratively higher, the gods, oh God, whoever gave me another chance to stand with whatever I was looking for, or knowing.  
Pospertina bathed myself in milk, washed my hair with sage and elderflower to give it shine, buttered my hands to soften their roughness. "You're an artist now," she would say, teaching me the rules of table manners and elegant conversation. "You need a stage name, one that is attractive and dignified. I don't know, Calliope, or Erato, the muses of epic verse and poetry..."  
So, I went from being Masada's Jane, Harry's Hermione, to becoming Newt's new nightingale. After all, life was beautiful. All of Newt's musicians wore a little copper ring with their owner's name engraved on it, but he wasn't a very strict owner. In fact, life was so soft and easy that it seemed like a lie that five years had passed. Five years of singing lessons, practice with the lyre, conversations with guests and talks with Newt about the interpretation of the songs. Five years dedicated to getting to know the world through oral art: intimate dinners that asked for soft love ballads, noisy military parties where only happy songs about alcohol were heard... Five years.  
As I have been doing for the last few years, I finished dressing up in my shiny dress and bracelets, giving life to my now dazzling image. I even had the opportunity to take advantage of the events without needing my owner...he is probably already making me known in all the surrounding ports.

ALBUS

-I hear you've been hanging around a lute player lately, or was she a dancer?   
Draco scratched his jaw.  
-You know all about it, Father.  
-I like to keep my eyes open, son," I said cheerfully.  
-She's a great artist," said Draco firmly.  
-I don't doubt it, whoever she is.  
We went into the garden covered with vines. The ice shone brightly in the sunlight, and the water echoed in the blue slab fountain. Every now and then a slave would pass by, loaded with amphorae or baskets of dirty clothes. They all smiled when they passed me.  
-Isn't it about time you got married? -I said. I feel like having a daughter-in-law.  
-And where am I going to put her? -In the Praetorian Guard barracks? The gods of the place would tremble.  
-I could live here while you're out in the field. This house is big enough for two women.  
-Seriously? -Draco commented, hesitantly.  
I burst out laughing.  
-Bella is not jealous. She'll be happy to have company.  
-But she already has her friendships, doesn't she?  
-Yes, not always the sort of friends I'd like for her. But a young woman of her age, in the same house... She could use it. And you too, son.  
-Since when did an old bachelor like you start extolling the virtues of marriage? -I don't know. -he asked, smiling.  
-Remember that I'm married now.  
Today in particular I looked like the spitting image of my austere grandfather, the emperor. In a simple robe and sandals, I emanated restraint. I smiled as I looked into the reflection of the water.  
-Would you like some grapes? There was a good harvest this year. So says the butler," I proposed, stopping at the tangled vine that climbed the columns of the courtyard. I want to learn a little about grapes. I am thinking of writing a treatise, comparing the decline of the Republic with the decline of the vineyards in the autumn. But I'm not sure if the vines wither at that time of year. All I know is that there are always ripe grapes on my table. Here, try these.  
Draco ate a grape with a sour expression. Leaning on the marble mortar of the fountain, he commented:  
-I read your latest treatise on the decline of births and its solutions. Of course, it made me think. What did the emperor think?  
-The emperor? -I scoffed, picking up another bunch of grapes. -I'd be surprised if he'd heard of him.  
-Emperor Gellert always read your treatises.  
-Tom's not much of a reader. -I'm not. And if he did read it, I don't think he'd be too happy about it. He doesn't like political theory.  
-It's just proposals to solve the birth rate. What's political about that?  
-He'd take it as a criticism for not being able to have an heir.  
-Well," said Draco, assimilating the information. -The empress... well, after ten years of marriage she has only given her abortions... She would be within her rights to divorce. But you supported him reconciling with her, so it must have seemed a smarter choice than...  
-Than who? -I gave my stepson a dry look. -You're not asking me about the empress, are you, son?  
-Well, I know it's none of my business, but even here there are rumors...  
-Rumors that Tom has set his eyes on his niece Helena.  
-I don't stop to think about these things too much, but people talk. It's just that... the emperor had her husband executed for treason... And he wouldn't be the first emperor to marry his niece. Claudius' fourth wife...  
-the one who poisoned the emperor's mushrooms. You haven't chosen a good example.  
-Well, I don't think Helena's going to poison anyone. I remember her as a child.  
-Yes, the emperor's very happy with her.  
-How happy?   
-I don't like to listen to rumours," I said, pushing away the vine leaves with my fingers, "but ever since the emperor ordered Helena's husband to be executed, he seems ready to reconcile himself with her by sudden displays of kindness.  
Draco paused for a moment, seeming to lose himself in old memories and reflections  
-I don't think those rumors are...  
-Then why are you asking? -I said, again in a sharp tone.  
-Well, it's just that my friend Blaise, who has served in the palace... He doesn't believe much in rumors either, but he says that... he says that Helena trembles every time the emperor comes to her room. As if she were afraid of him.  
-Of course she is, I said. She's panicked about everything. She still sleeps with a lamp lit, because she can't stand the darkness. And Tom, though he's in a good mood, always imposes. Surely those rumors have gained credit because Helena herself believes them.  
-What does she believe?  
-You haven't seen her since you were ten years old. She's... Since her father died she's not the same. Before she was always happy, but now she only talks about eyes that look at her in the dark and voices that don't exist. The slaves say she doesn't eat. The emperor had to order her to be fed by force. In a fit of hysteria, she tried to pull out her hair. -I paused. This must remain between you and me, Draco.  
She nodded, swallowing her breath.  
-What do you mean? She's become...  
-Crazy, -I completed the sentence.- Although I'd like to assume she's just struggling to stay afloat in a world that's too complicated for her. The same could be said of Bellatrix.  
Draco seemed relieved by the change of subject.  
-Why did you bring her here, Father? . She was a star in Rome.  
My gesture was twisted in disgust:  
-These grapes are disgusting.  
I threw the bunch into the fountain and added:  
-Your stepmother seems like a lovely woman of the world, Draco, but she's too young. Freedom has gone to her head and she's joined with... well, with too many friendships. I should have stopped her, but I didn't want to deny her youth just because I'm a tired old man who prefers to spend his nights in the library. She seemed so happy, preparing for her parties. It's hard to deny her anything.  
There was a pause.  
-What happened?  
-We had dinner every week at the palace. I shouldn't have taken her, but she was so insistent...  
—¿And?  
-The emperor noticed her- I answered simply.  
-Well," said Draco after another pause.  
-At first I didn't think much of it. He looked at her, but as he does with all women. But last month Bellatrix received an imperial invitation to dine at the palace... without me.  
-What did you do? -Draco asked, surprised.  
-I sent a note in reply that I was ill," I replied, shrugging. I added that we had to go to the coast to get her back on her feet. That same night we left for Brundisium.  
Draco came to his senses and asked:  
-And how did she take it?  
-. She got very angry and yelled at me, ”I said, leaning on the edge of the fountain next to him, resting my hands on my knees. I don't think she was aware of what that invitation meant. In a way, she is quite innocent. Think I did it to keep her away from parties and fun.But she's calmed down now.  
-But, Father, you don't seem to hold a grudge; the emperor, I mean. He tried to steal your wife.  
-Well, he's trying to sleep with everyone's wife. Tom likes anything that has stola on it. But, unlike his predecessors, he doesn't care much if a wife, or a husband, says no. There are a lot of women in the world. Now he's back in Germany fighting cats, he's probably forgotten about Bella by now.  
-I don't understand him.  
-Who can understand an emperor? Draco, an emperor is a man used to absolute, almost divine power. A man who has to look after the good of thousands of people, who sometimes forgets about his own. Even the best of emperors have done that. Even Godric the God, my ancestor. And Tom is not Godric. He is devious and bad-tempered, like all members of the Slytherin dynasty, but he is not a god. However, I've already seen eight men dressed in purple, and Tom does better than most of them. He didn't impress me much as a child, but he has become one of the best administrators I have ever seen, and a good general, too. -I looked at him. -Draco Malfoy, will you do one thing for me?  
-Whatever it is, Father.  
-Take care of Bellatrix for me. I don't like to leave her, but I have to go back to the Senate in a couple of weeks. She'll need some company.  
-It will be an honor.  
He offered me his best regards  
-You can count on me.  
-I didn't expect any less from you," I smiled. -Now, what do you say we have some good wine instead of these filthy grapes, and drink a toast as you deserve?  
-As you wish.  
We left the atrium, both of us walking in the same way, with our hands intertwined behind our backs, shoulder to shoulder.

BELLATRIX

My destiny was to be a courtesan. "Bella, the emperor's mistress" sounds much better than "Bella, the senator's wife". As soon as I laid eyes on Tom, I knew he had to be mine. All I had to do was... well, catch him.  
-My wife, Caesar, introduced us to Albus at my first palace banquet. Bellatrix.  
-My lord and God, I bowed with great reverence.  
That's how he liked to be addressed: "Lord and God". I wouldn't mind being called "Lady and Goddess." In fact, I would love to.  
I watched him all evening, while Albus kept talking about taxes. Tom was attractive. He was tall, broad-backed and pale skinned. He had a military air about him, but he wasn't as stiff as Draco. He was distant with his noble guests and relaxed with his generals. As for the empress, he paid less attention to her than to a statue.  
Although she was not my only competitor. I had heard rumours about Tom and his niece. If they were true, and the girl had succeeded in taking the emperor away from his beloved wife, she must have something special.  
I looked at her all evening and saw nothing extraordinary in her. A small girl, with very dark hair, a thin body, big eyes, and very quiet. Pathetic and strange. After spending two hours curled up in her bed like a little rabbit, she suddenly got up and went to the back of the dining room talking to herself. The conversations stopped when the emperor stood up, took her by the arm, and made her return to her seat.  
-Eat, Helena," hissed Tom impatiently.  
The girl attacked the dishes like a hungry dog, taking the food to her mouth until her cheeks swelled up, without taking her dull eyes off her uncle, as if she were afraid he was going to stick a knife in her. Tom turned to his generals and did not look at her again for the rest of the evening. From that moment on, I ignored her too. Helena stopped going to the imperial dinners. What a strange girl!  
Albus had a strange sympathy for her. "She was always very fragile," he told me after a dinner at which she spent the whole time coughing into her wine glass and mumbling incomprehensible phrases every time someone tried to talk to her. "Poor thing." "Yes, poor thing," I repeated.  
A freak, and a madwoman. Even if the emperor had been attracted to her, I'm sure he'd have gotten over it by now. It's about time someone new arrived. He had many lovers, but none of them lasted long.  
I would last.  
-Bellatrix," her dark eyes settled on my purple silk stola, just a little lighter than her imperial cloak. What a regal look you have.  
-Thank you, my Lord and God," I replied, looking him shamelessly in the eyes instead of looking down submissively.  
-Do you like to sing, Bella? -he asked me suddenly, later, as he devoured a roasted pheasant.  
I enjoyed it when the conversations stopped and heads turned towards me.  
-No, my Lord and God," I replied in the rich, low voice that I used to practice as a child in the courtyard.  
-A pity," he said, snapping his fingers to get more wine served.  
I leaned forward to ask for a refill, too.  
-They say the gods have a good ear for music.  
The emperor's eyes followed me as I turned casually, leaning back and focusing all my attention and charms on the companion on my right, a young tribune who was about to spill his cup of nervousness.  
Other large, brown eyes watched me besides Tom's: those of the empress. She pretended to enjoy himself, but I knew she was burning with jealousy.  
The next week we received an invitation. A freedman from the palace, wearing a white robe and gold bracelets, arrived to announce that I, Lady Bellatrix, was invited to dine alone with the emperor the next evening. I thanked him reluctantly, as if I received thousands of such invitations every day, and as soon as he left I began to dance for joy, running around the garden like a naughty girl.  
But I had to stop playing games, I had to choose my weapons: blue to bring out my eyes, or red to add more tension? The pink pearls that Albus gave me for the wedding, or the sapphires? Musk or rose scent? I took all the dresses out of my closet and silly Hanna ended up crying until I decided on a blood red fabric, gold bracelets on both arms and a ruby on my forehead.   
Sophisticated, sensual and seductive.  
-Bellatrix?  
-I'm resting, Albus.  
Or should I say dreaming, while Hanna painted my toenails scarlet, to match the jewels Tom would put around my neck.  
He opened the door, and I quickly composed my sweet smile.  
-Albus? What...  
-Did you get an invitation to dinner? -He interrupted me. -With the emperor?  
-Well... Yes.  
What slave would have told him? I didn't want him to know. He was better off on his cloud, as usual.  
-And you're going?  
His eyes were fixed on the rouge pots, the perfume bottles, the open jewelry chest and the dresses thrown on top of the chairs.  
-How can I refuse an invitation from the emperor, Albus? -I said, in my sweetest tone.  
He came closer and caressed my cheek.  
-Hanna," he said, "can you take a message to my butler? Tell him to go to the palace as soon as possible to say that Bellatrix is ill.  
I stood up with a start.  
-What?  
His voice got in the way of mine.  
-In fact, she's so ill that we're leaving right now for Brundisium, hoping she'll get better with the air on the coast.  
-Albus, you can't...  
-Yes," he said, stroking me, "I can.  
After that he told me a lot of nonsense about how innocent I was, that I didn't realise what was behind the invitation, that the time had come to leave my parties and go with him to Brundisium to spend the summer with Draco, that the emperor would forget me.  
-No!" I shouted angrily.  
Since it didn't work out, I was very fond of him, but it didn't work out either... Why not?  
-I'm sorry, Bella," he repeated as, without giving credit to what was happening, he mounted me on the litter that would take us along the Appian Way to Brundisium.  
Sorry? You haven't started to be sorry yet.  
There was still a chance. I could still convince him to let me go back to Rome.  
-Hanna. -I turned away from my bedroom window with its view of the blue port of Brundisium. -I was in the middle of the night. Prepare the pink stola and pearls. No scent, he doesn't like it. Tell the butler I want fresh flowers in the triclinium in the garden. Lilies and roses. And musicians playing the lute in the bedroom. And a simple dinner, you know he's a man of simple tastes...

DELPHI

-Fishing, Delphi? -asked my father, kneeling by the fountain, he put his fingers in the water.  
-I caress the fish," I said, stretching my arm out to a pile of shiny scales. Then I thought about it and corrected myself: "Well, I try to caress them.  
-I'm going to help you," he proposed, kneeling beside me. -I'm going to scare them away from you, so you can caress them, but slowly.  
I managed to run my finger over the grey flake back of a tent. The touch was as soft as a sticker. Comforting.  
We removed the water from the fountain. My father had told me about my grandmother. But Godric's daughter had ended up badly, had died alone in exile. And all his adopted children had died before him: killed, poisoned or drowned. All young, and dead. He stroked my hair, I thought of Draco, of his military bearing and his serious look. You could say that he was a sign of rebellion on my father's part.  
I looked at him and smiled, and for a moment I saw a strange glow in his eyes. As if he were lost in memories and recollections... was I a portal to history for him too? For someone?  
-Father! -I said. -Father! You're letting the fish get away.  
He blinked.  
-Wow, that's right.  
He smiled again and I put my hands in the water. Then a slave arrived with a watering from my dear mother...

ALBUS

The beautiful afternoon was dying. The dinner was superb; the flowers were beautiful; the lutes resounded melodiously in the recollected alcove. The triclinium, austere, marble with gray streaks and simple cushions, in the Republican style, too simple for today's taste, but it was perfect for me. With its light pink stola and pearls, it was the center of attention, framed by the window overlooking the bluish bay of Brundisium.  
-I hope you don't have to tell Delphi a story this time," she said, and fiddled with a curl of her hair. I intend to go to bed early tonight.  
-I was thinking of starting a new treatise," I said calmly but tenderly. I suppose it can wait.  
-Good.  
After a heavy silence I took her hand and she dropped:  
-Albus, you haven't thought about going back to Rome?  
-Look, I'm glad you brought it up, -I said, bowing my head to kiss in her hand. -I have plans to return.  
-Seriously?  
She hugged me. Well, she had a lot, but she was still very innocent to believe that I didn't care ...  
-Albus, I love you.  
-Bella, -I said. I pushed her aside to look her in the eye, "honey, you're staying here. It's time for you to settle down a bit. Delphi barely sees you.  
-But she doesn't need me!  
-She does need you. It's partly because of her that I've decided to leave you both in Brundisium. The sea breeze is good for her. I've asked Draco to look after you. He'll take you out if you get bored.  
She came to me and circled my neck.  
-You can't leave me," she whispered. "I'm going to miss you terribly. Aren't you?  
When I opened my mouth to answer she kissed me without giving me a chance, and I ended up inside her in the privacy of the bedroom.  
-Do you still want to leave me? -she whispered afterwards.  
-It's hard to leave you," I said as I caressed her neck, "but I'd rather spend some time in solitude than see you swept away in a whirlwind of vanities.  
-What does that mean?  
After five years of marriage I hadn't managed to get rid of his habit of making things repeat themselves  
-Nothing. -I kissed her on the cheek. -I'll leave next week.  
She got up on the bed, pulling the sheet.  
-And me?  
-I'm sorry, Bella.  
That was it. Despite her protests, her tears and her kisses, I was only able to tell her that I was sorry. I could no longer give my life free rein, I had to get out of the books from time to time and supervise my family.  
My daughter was inhibited on my way out, too, but I hoped to find a more normal relationship between them when I returned  
I just hoped I wouldn't get any more news of new attacks on her little body.

DRACO

-See you after Theodore's party?  
-I'm afraid not," said her alto voice, as she stood before me like a summoned sphinx. From that mythology in which you invoke them and they will grant you a wish from a riddle... the good thing is that their dry gaze cannot petrify you as in the stories. -The Farm has other plans, I understand.  
-Or does my cousin not have that kind of musical taste? -I asked her, cordially and with my arms back. Half the praetorians in town are asking for invitations. He organizes the best parties in Brundisium," I said, distilling irony. My father and I never liked him very much," I said as we sat down. -He thinks we're a couple of dullards obsessed with duty.  
-Maybe that's why you're decent," she said in approval, bowing her graceful head.  
-Are you going to sing?  
-Yes," she answered, taking the edge of her robe. Why don't you come along? It's going to be one of the last parties of the season.  
-My father asked me to entertain my stepmother. She's been a little depressed since they came from Rome.  
-Your stepmother?  
I looked at her, she finally showed interest in what I was saying.  
-Bellatrix Lestrange... -You know her?  
-How could I not know the brightest star in Rome," she said, with a cold tone in her exquisite voice making a rather ornate gesture of mockery.  
-Sure that...?  
-I must get ready for my appearance at night. Geta's party has earned my presence in his house, and it seems your time has run out.  
She offered me a formal but impenetrable smile. I asked myself -and it wasn't the first time- if a man could ever get to know a woman, and one as surly and imperturbable as that one. Persephone had seldom refused me the little date that it was allowed to offer since she became a renowned artist. That medium-size, ivory-colored girl who was hired to sing at the barracks parties had impressed me when she provoked a dispute between two drunken tribunes, when she tactfully dispatched a loving centurion with her constant jokes in Greek.   
She belonged to Praetor Newt's musical slave farm. She was very flashy physically and talking to her was always addictive for someone like me. I could have sworn I courted her on more than one occasion, more like a cold, hard interview.  
-What are you going to...?  
-Until the next time," she said as a farewell, "I didn't miss the note that indicated mockery.  
I was surprised, thinking that this strange creature was like an ice-a semi-melted one, but quite difficult to warm up, I never went in for clinging to women, in fact they were not my main hobby, but this highly-rated singer kept me entertained while I impacted her hard sweeps down.  
The ride to my father's house was a pleasant one. I mounted my horse and took the road to the port, enjoying the smell of salt in the breeze, the cheerful shouts of the vendors on the shore, and the shining robes of the women in front of the blue port. Even the thief who tried to steal my purse seemed happy as he rode away, releasing gentle curses, after I put my hand on the hilt of my sword as a warning.  
When I stopped the horse in front of my father's village, my smile turned into a broad laughter as I watched Delphi run out to meet me.  
-I have been waiting for you all morning," said the little girl as she broke loose from her nurse and ran to my side. -May I pet your horse?  
-Of course. His name is Hannibal. My crazy Aunt Minerva gave him to me when I entered the Praetorian Guard.  
-Why is she crazy? -she asked, stretching a shy arm towards the animal's muzzle.  
-Because she is very beautiful, almost as beautiful as you, and instead of getting married, she retired to the country to breed the finest horses in Rome. Hannibal is one of the best. Want to go for a ride?  
The little girl smiled and raised her arms. I picked her up, placed her in the saddle in front of me. Delphi held on to the animal's mane.  
-Hold on tight.  
The little girl laughed as she threw Hannibal at a slow trot. They went up and down the street three times, until my stepmother appeared at the garden gate.  
-You are a couple of children," she said, protecting her eyes from the warm morning sun. -Delphi, get down now.  
I dismounted, and I brought Delphi down, and we both bowed our heads.  
-Mrs. Bellatrix," I waved.  
Now I looked at her with a new curiosity: the woman who had caught the attention of the emperor.  
-Come in," she invited me, and the silks on her dress were shaking as she turned around.  
Delphi took my hand and led me inside.  
-Can I show you my new doll? Her name is Cleopatra. I named her after the stories of the Queen of Egypt that Father tells me.  
-Don't bore Draco, Delphi, -Bella interrupted her. -Go to your nanny.  
-It's all right, I don't mind, -I said, but Delphi had already vanished.  
-Now she's got it into her head that she wants a pony. Albus is pampering her too much,' she said, and dropped onto a sofa. -So you've come to entertain me?  
-Well, my father asked me to look after you.  
-And report to him on my progress? -What a good soldier! -she sighed as she fiddled with a dark curl. Well, the truth is, I'm bored to death.  
-You must miss him.  
I was moved by the sorrow in her face. What would it be like to have someone who was sad in your absence? Maybe that's why it was worth taking a wife.  
-I'd like to get out, but there's not much to do in Brundisium. Everyone returns to their homes in the city, but here I am, stuck in a villa with a four-year-old girl.  
She looked a lot like Delphi now, boring, beautiful and very young.  
-Would you like to come to a party tonight? -I suggested, without thinking.  
Her hazelnut eyes were fixed on mine.  
-A party?  
-At my cousin Theodore Nott's house. You probably don't know him, he doesn't mix much with us. I'm afraid he thinks Father's a bore. But he's just been made governor of Lower Germany and he's giving a big farewell banquet.  
Bella offered me a wide, calculated smile, and I understood why the emperor had noticed her.  
-Really? -she said. She tiptoed over and kissed me on the cheek.- What shall I wear?  
-It doesn't matter," I answered, taking her hand with all the gallantry I could muster. -You will be the most beautiful woman at the party.

A party like any other: tinkling laughter, bejewelled guests, wine in silver cups and grapes on gold trays, beds with tasseled cushions, and musicians playing their lyres softly. I waited in the triclinium we were buying on the left, somewhat centered...perfect view, in the pause between the cakes and the cheeses, and she appeared with her most impressive smile and bearing worthy of a swan: Persephone, the nightingale of Brundisium's elite.  
A good audience: the patricians of Brundisium were always courteous. She has performed at parties where I could barely be heard over the murmur of conversation, or where men would start whistling and almost drooling as they swept her away with their eyes. But this was a polite gathering, and they listened attentively as she played the first chords of the lyre and began the Song of Eos. In the second stanza, the atmosphere that I had been waiting for began to be created, it was almost like magic. Even my demanding and sophisticated stepmother couldn't take her eyes off of me as she listened. She was dressed like a lady, wrapped in silk with an elegance that she had never possessed when she was the daughter of a game organizer. On her neck were sapphires the size of grapes. Her painted nails were stuck to the velvet cushion for a second, and then she got her soft smile back.  
-Wonderful! -There were exclamations of applause as she greeted the audience.  
People came to congratulate her as she smiled and chatted with a white-toothed smile. Bellatrix lay down on her bed, not looking away from the crowd as she sipped from her wine glass. I approached her when I saw opportunity, which, by the way, she had already noticed.  
-Persephone, I don't think I have introduced you to my stepmother," I said, taking Bella by the hand and pulling her a little to where we were.  
I heard the comments of several patricians about us.  
-This is Bellatrix Lestrange.  
She offered him her pearly hand and shook it with hers, as white and cottony as ever.  
-A very interesting performance," she muttered, "Persephone - it's a Greek name. But you're not Greek, are you?  
She spoke in her splendid Greek then. I swore I saw a slight blush in Bella.  
-Persephone speaks Greek better than I do," I said. She belongs to a noble family in Athens.  
-Well, I could have sworn I came from a slum in Jerusalem," muttered Bellatrix. -How long have you been singing in Brundisium... Persephone?  
-Almost five years now.  
-And what did you do before that?  
-I was here and there,' she replied, and made a professional gesture. Enjoying life.  
-How nice! A pity Brundisium doesn't have an amphitheatre. You can't enjoy the games here. There is talk that you love gladiators.  
-I prefer music to blood, domina. -  
-But the games are so exciting," said Bella, and stretched out a languid arm to reach for a bunch of grapes.- Look, last week at the Colosseum, Harry the Barbarian lost a hand to a Turk. Quite a show. You want grapes?  
-No, thank you.  
I kept my composure. Oh, Gods. There was some tension in this atmosphere already.  
-You're coming to dinner tomorrow? -She said to me with a funny, naughty gesture, which took me by surprise  
-I thought you wanted it until next week.  
-Tomorrow my performance has been cancelled, I'm free.  
-Tomorrow Draco can't, -Bella intervened, and put a hand on my elbow. -He promised to take me to the last show of the season.  
-Ah, yes? -I asked, looking at her.  
-Yes," she answered, without looking away from her.  
-Okay. So, next week, Persephone?  
-Next week is difficult too, -said Bella, and she ran a finger over my shoulders.  
-Then, maybe at the barracks party next month," she said as she put her hand away in a gesture. -Bella, if you wish to hire me to sing in private, speak to Praetor Newt. He is the best musical patron in town, do you know him? Well, maybe music isn't her thing. He's in charge of organizing my performances. Be sure to book three weeks in advance, I'm in high demand these days.  
-You always were, among certain kinds of people.  
You both smiled, and when Persephone left I was able to exalt myself properly.  
-Do you know Persephone?   
-No," she replied, "just like that. This is the first time I have seen her.

-It's been a lovely evening, Draco," said Bellatrix as we came down from the bunk. Would you like a drink before you go back to the barracks?  
-Thank you, I'm just going down to see Delphi.  
-As you wish.  
Delphi was asleep, hugging a rag horse, with her eyes closed. I smiled, pulled her hair out of her face and went back into the hall.  
The house was dark and silent. The slaves had already gone to bed. From the atrium came the scent of jasmine in the heat of the summer night. I walked down the stairs, across the hall and through the library. As I passed by the last room, my stepmother's bedroom, the door opened. I went to close it, and stopped.  
My stepmother was standing by the bed with her back to the door. On the bedside table she had placed the sapphire necklace. Her hair was a black cloak falling down her back. She had never noticed the beautiful hair she had.  
Bella stretched out and the light from the lonely lamp illuminated her white arms. Her blue silk nightgown slipped over one shoulder and with a slight movement of her back she fell from the other and dropped to the floor.  
I closed the door and my eyes. I took a step back and tripped over a vase. I threw myself to keep it from falling and hit a statue of Aphrodite that broke with a great crash. I ran down the aisle.  
The next day I went to see her. It was the right thing to do. Hadn't my father asked me to look after her? I was following orders.  
-Draco! -She received me, offering me her hand. To what do I owe this honour?  
She wore a green silk robe and adorned his forehead and hand with two large pearls. Overwhelmed by such beauty, I could only babble.  
-Are you nervous? -she asked as she led me to the atrium, where he sank into the cushions of her bed. Why, are you going to visit that singer?  
-No," I answered, blushing. "It's just that...  
-I don't really know what you saw," she said, and invited me to sit down. -Years ago, she was my slave.  
-But... You told me you didn't know her.  
-I lied to you," she confessed after asking for wine and something to eat. -She's improved a lot since then, but she's still the same little bitch as always. Wine?  
-Oh, thank you.  
I watched my stepmother as she bent over to pour you a glass. She couldn't imagine that those words could come out of Bella's delicate mouth.  
-Well, yes," she added, resting her pale arm on the cushions, "she was sleeping with all the men in the house, including my father. And yours. -Addressing the slave who appeared at the door, he said, "Frosted fruits!  
-My father? -I said, choking. -But never... no... with slaves. He's not like that. It wouldn't seem fair.  
How did he end up in that conversation? It wasn't the right thing to do.  
-I suppose it was her idea. I don't know. A few smiles, a few looks, the way she seduced you... -said Bellatrix, resting her chin on her palm. Look how funny that is, Draco. You've shared a woman with your father.  
I looked at my stepmother. Her penetrating musk perfume flooded my nose. I couldn't answer her at all, and I doubted if I'd ever fully understood her words  
-I have to go, -I said, with a tone that was strange to me.  
She tilted her head and looked at me with her calm hazel eyes.  
-Is it your turn to stand guard? -she asked, without the harsh tone in her voice, if ever. What a pity... Say goodbye to Delphi before you go, or he'll be whining all day.  
She tiptoed over to plant a kiss on my cheek. A stepmother's kiss.  
Still, I felt a chill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a bitch, huh? Hehe, follow me to find out more


	5. V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is another fragment of this great novel, for history fans: this chapter is heavy, but it has interesting and almost untold facts about the Empire at that time ... a greeting!

BELLATRIX

Excellent! I had already managed to make him nervous. By now Draco will be wondering what was going on. Let him worry.  
The truth is, he was handsome. Tall, strong, and with smooth white skin. The straight look, the platinum hair and very straight, which, it looked soft. When he grew up he would look like Lucius, I saw him at one point. And he had no hump! Yes, he was quite attractive. I never noticed him before, until I saw him wanking around Hermione. That gave me a wonderful idea.  
Draco didn't visit me for a week. It was a very dull few days. The slaves were getting on my nerves, and the shops were closed because of a depressing local holiday. The skies became cloudy with the first signs of autumn, turning the famous blue port into a grey slab. Delphi was depressed, running to the window every time she heard the hooves of a horse.  
-Draco promised to play with me, -she sighed.  
-Now he prefers to play with me," I explained. -Older men like him don't play with little girls.  
-But he promised me.  
-Men lie, Delphi. Now, go away.  
I pinched her ear, and she whimpered. Children are exhausting.  
They were boring days, but I survived. It was all part of the plan. I counted four days, and then I passed Draco just as he was leaving his quarters. He was bare-chested, in his training skirt. He was sweating from the exercises. When he saw me, he stopped as if he had hit a wall.  
-What are you doing here?  
-How rude! But I won't hold it against you. I'm going to Senator Halco's banquet tomorrow. It'll be the last party of the season. I need a chaperone. Pick me up tonight.  
-But...  
I went up to him, wiped his forehead with my hand and watched the film of sweat on my fingers.  
-By the gods, you're all sweaty.  
I left him there, looking at me in astonishment and wondering how it all happened.

DRACO

-Wow, how you've managed! -said Blaise, who whistled when I appeared in a white linen gown with the family seal on his ring finger. -Who's the lucky girl?   
-My stepmother," it came out of my mouth before I could hold him.- I mean, she's asked me to, uh, accompany her to a banquet tonight. That's what she asked me to do.  
When I walked out the door, I had the feeling that he was looking at me in surprise.  
-Draco," said Bella as she crossed the marble floor.  
Every curve of her body was wrapped in green silk, and an enormous jet of jade glowed in her throat. Her eyes were drunken and her lips were painted with lipstick. I wondered how I could have considered her a child.  
The feast was a mass of bright lights, shining dresses, loud voices, thundering music, dancers and acrobats, all mixed up before her eyes. Roasted flamingo and honey dormouse wrapped in poppy seeds, delicacies that melted in her mouth. Bellatrix shared the triclinium with me, smiling, flirting and talking to everyone but me. But, covered by his stola and his conversation, he caressed me with his foot.  
-Senator! It's beautiful. Let me see.  
She stretched across my back to examine Senator Halco's sapphire ring and her breath tickled the back of my neck.  
-Mrs Cornelia! What beautiful hair! How do you get those curls?  
She turned to look better, and her breasts brushed against my shoulder. I didn't remember anything about the banquet. Just my father's wife making love to me in a thousand different ways.  
-A beautiful party," she said enthusiastically as we left the mansion with the other guests. The dawn was just around the corner, but she still had her eyes wide open. And to think that Brundisium seemed to me a boring city. I haven't had this much fun in years.  
She caressed my arm with her fingers, which helped her to get on the bunk. Then she fixed the wrinkles on her stola, letting me see her white ankle. I was certain that she was wearing nothing under the silk that wrapped around her body.  
-I suppose you will accompany me home," she said, casting a captivating glance behind her black eyelashes.  
-My watch begins in two hours.  
-Well, skip it.  
-I can't, my centurion...  
-Are you going to leave me alone at this time of night, just to avoid an argument from your centurion? -she exclaimed with an innocent face. -What will your father say?  
My father!  
My father, with his back bent, quiet and kindly looking. "Bella seems a lovely woman of the world, Draco, but she's too young... Take care of her."  
I wanted to die.  
-Climb up," Bella ordered as she lay on the cushions. -I'm cold.  
I climbed into the bunk, which began to rock like a ship when the porters lifted it up and walked down the street. She closed the green silk curtains, blocking the light from the street lamps and turning the bunk into a dimly lit box. I took refuge in a corner, my heart racing.  
-You're very quiet. -Her voice had more effect in the dark. -Have you gone too far with the wine?  
-No, I managed to answer. It's against the rules to drink before a guard.  
-Do you always respect the rules? -she said, and caressed my arm with a hand of sharp nails.  
-Yes," I replied, "it's safer.  
-But safe things are boring. So... safe.  
Her painted lips met mine. Bella's arms wrapped around my neck like snakes. Her teeth made wounds on my lips. When I leaned over her, she lay down, fidgeting with her tongue in our mouths and pressing her belly against me. I kissed her with a groan, pulling the silk away from her breasts with trembling fingers. She pulled up her robe and curled her legs around my hips while her musk scent invaded my mind. As I fell on her, I felt her smile. Between onslaughts I felt a slight wobble in the bunk...but feeling ashamed of the slaves was the last thing that went through my mind, she moaned like an animal in heat and scratched my back deliciously, the swaying became so fast that I ended up pulling out my limb at the end without wanting to and I ejaculated into her belly.  
Only then did I turn around; I wanted to die.  
-I think we have arrived," she said, wrapping her naked body in the stola and getting off the bunk. Are you coming, Draco?  
-No," I said in a weak voice, "no.  
-Are you coming?  
I looked at her. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bright. The whitish throat was emerging from the wrinkled stola like the stem of a flower. She smiled, showing her tongue between her lips, and I felt my shoulders ache as much as the treacherous manhood, which had previously plunged into sweet hell.  
Yes-The word was heavy in his mouth like lead. I'm going.  
And I followed her into the house like an obedient little dog.  
I knew that there was a boat that transported the souls of the dead to the other world. A dark boat whose oars were driven by a smiling boatman with a skull for a face. But my boat was a bed, white, airy, and beautiful as a cloud, and the beautiful black-haired girl who carried the oars led him to hell much faster than any skeleton boatman.  
-Do you know how many men I've been with? -she said, leaning her back on my arms. -The first was an African gladiator, when I was fifteen. Your father didn't handcuff me as a virgin. I told him that the marks on my body were made when I fell down the bathhouse stairs, and he believed me. What a fool!  
-Don't say that," I whispered.- He's not a fool, he's brilliant, and he's honest. He's everything I've ever wanted to be, so don't...  
-Do you want to be an ugly hunchback?  
-Don't insult him. -I was shaking with rage.- Don't you dare...  
-Well, the obedient son defending his deformed father. Very good, obedient son. If you love your father so much, what are you doing in my bed?  
I was lying on my side, with the sheets at waist level. Her hair was showing her breasts. Her lips were smiling. I was unable to move.  
-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," she turned and drew me in with her finger. -Come.  
And I went.

She could get me to come to her with a flick of her eyebrow. I could nail her nails to my back and watch me bow in agony and ecstasy. She could bite me and caress me. Whether it was pleasure or pain, she would always come back for more. Draco Dumbledore, the blameless, the soldier. A rag, trapped, enslaved and subject to his charms.  
Oh, how wonderful!  
It was stressful to dance to her tune. She made me brush her hair and put oil on her back. She forced me to go out and get her errands and deliver her packages. She had me wait for her in uncomfortable places, made me come and say goodbye at once, pouting when I called out to her and smiling when I wanted to express my hatred for her. She made an appointment with a friend of mine in the Praetorian Guard barracks and warned me to catch them red-handed. I felt nauseated, deeply angry, both at her and at my idiotic jealousy, I was not the one who should feel disgraced, hating her as she groaned and squirmed under another man. Yet that very night I crawled back to her. Who could have told me that one day she would be so bewitched?  
-Skip your guard today- -she was ordered to get up and put on my armour.  
-I can't.  
-I repeat: skip today's guard.   
She ran her fingers down my back and laughed when I went back to bed with a grunt. Thanks to her, I missed quite a few of my duties in the Praetorian Guard, and I was not spared the prescribed punishments.  
-This has got to stop," I murmured seriously. -It's wrong... it's a shame.  
-But if that's the fun of it. If you want someone dull, go back to that fancy singer, see if she can fit you into her busy schedule.  
I looked at her with fury... more Persephone was long since a vague memory... my manhood would not find its drug in divine talents or culture, and even less so if these were so reduced and earned with disdain of ice.  
-Not here! -I mumbled, pushing her away when she kissed me behind a statue in the middle of a garden party.  
-Why not? -she asked, and ran her fingers across my chest.  
-We... They'll see us! -Very close there was lively laughter and joking, the sound of footsteps and the tinkling of clothes. -If we are discovered...  
-But isn't that the fun of it? -Don't it turn you on?  
I opened my mouth, terrified, but he kissed me, took my hand and put it under her stola, and the discussion was over.  
We weren't caught, but it could have happened and what a scandal it would have been! A senator's wife with her stepson! Laughter would have followed my father into the Senate. "Did you hear about Dumbledore's wife? The fool left her alone in Brundisium and his son is doing his father's job." Yes, that's what they'd say. No, the dirty little tramp wouldn't let me miss it.  
-You're going to sink him, and you know it," she said, leaning on my elbows and tickling my back with her feet as I tried to get away from her. -His career, his texts, his position in Rome... It's all going to fall apart. Albus Dumbledore's wife cheats on him with his own son. You will destroy him.  
-Do you think I don't know that? -I protested in a muffled voice.  
-I suppose so. It's fascinating, isn't it? But you won't leave me for your father," she said, and hugged me behind my back, wrapping her arms around my chest. -What if he came right now? What if he saw us holding each other like this?  
-Stop it!  
-Imagine the look on his face. -She put my lips to my ear. -He comes in, tired after a hard day's work. He just wants to kiss his beloved wife and invite his beloved son to dinner and... what do you find? His son riding his wife, throwing her into his own bed, so close that he can hear her moaning - I stepped aside, throwing him against the sheets, and started to toss the bed with my fist up.  
-Are you going to hit me? -she asked. "Come on, do it... I still like it.  
I stood still and she laughed. I swooped down on her, releasing a drowned curse. She curled her body into mine and I marked it with my teeth. Taking it as if it were the air I breathe.

I hated her.  
I hated that triumphant glow that peeked into her eyes every time my feet dragged me into her bed against my will. I hated her pink tongue that licked my lips like a kitten. I hated the cruel words that came so easily and indifferently from her beautiful mouth.  
But I could not turn away from her.  
-Are you all right, Malfoy? -Blaise asked me one afternoon in the barracks. You've been out of it for a few days.  
-You don't play with me any more," Delphi said sadly.  
The Dense Centurion was more emphatic: "Either you quit, Dumbledore, or I'll have you in the punishment platoon until the Saturnalians. Denso was a legend among the Praetorians. Although he was in his fifties, he was still very strong. He was a hero who had fought a mob in the terrible year of the four emperors, saving the life of a future empress. I considered him a god. Now I did not dare to look him in the eye.  
In my dreams, I heard the malicious whispers of Bella. I saw her on her wedding day, shy and demure behind the red veil, and then I imagined her rampant and tempting in my father's bed. She had gotten under my skin, like a thorn.  
-You hate me, don't you? -she asked me suddenly one afternoon, just after making love.  
Sweating and dying, I looked away.  
-Yes, I know you hate me. Why? -Because I stain your honour? How boring! Why is it always a woman's fault if a man loses his honour?  
-No! I protested. It's my fault.  
-Well, at least you're honest," she said, caressing my ear. So, although it sounds bad, if it's your fault that you've lost your honour, why do you hate me?  
-Because you don't care.  
-Nor do you, my dear," Bellatrix scoffed, and pinched my lobe. -Otherwise you'd leave right now. But you can't, can you?  
I opened my mouth, but it couldn't say anything. The silence lasted several minutes.  
-I don't think you can.  
She brought her tender white ankle up to my chin.  
-Kiss my foot, Draco.  
I bent down, placed my lips on the soles of his feet and licked them, savoring slowly. Her skin tasted of honey and treachery.

The letter fell out of my hand and my stomach turned. I almost didn't have time to get to the lavatorium, where I threw up non-stop.  
"Dear Draco," I prayed in my father's firm handwriting, "the Senate has concluded its discussions on the problem of the sewerage system, the new aqueduct and the lower number of births, at least for the time being, so I am going home. Wait for my arrival..."  
-I thought we had already met this morning," said Bellatrix, still wrapped in her white nightgown when I appeared in the atrium.- I have received one of these, and you?  
She showed me a scroll of parchment in her hand.  
-My father is coming back.  
-That's what I read. You want some barley water?  
-No!" I exclaimed as my feet carried me from one end of the room to the other. -He's coming back!  
-Will you stop repeating that? -she protested, leaning back on the cushions of her bed.  
-Bella, we've got to stop, right now.  
I could see the slaves gathered in the antechamber of the atrium, muttering as they covered their mouths with their hands.  
-Why? -she said, getting up and grabbing me by the waist. -Aren't you going to miss me?  
I felt a hand slide down my knee.  
-No," I muttered, "don't do this to me.  
-What? -she whispered, as her fingers climbed up her lover's thigh. -This?  
I closed my eyes and groaned, listening to the slaves scatter.  
Slowly it went as far as I wished it would go, and by then my trousers were already missing from their place, like a burning beacon pointed at the twisted and insolent face of my stepmother, who caressed it with her long nails to start licking it, I clenched my jaw - she passed her tongue from the hilt to the tip, and then she put it full into her mouth cavity and sucked it out with desire. I grabbed her silky hair in agony as she charged violently...I wanted to drown her, kill her in her own evil and have my first control and most pleasant climax of my life. But the jellyfish was execsively talented...too experienced, it kept up with me and encouraged me to climb it...it licked me and tasted like the most delicious prey. Finally I lost and I couldn't help but come, she swallowed all she could from that defeat, looking at my defiant eyes with her mouth and part of her face stained with semen. She pounced on me and I imprisoned her breasts.

-Draco! -shouted my father, sticking out a hand from his bunk. -Give me a hand, son, I've been in this jalopy since dawn and I'm numb.  
I helped my father down to the door and hugged him. I was enveloped by the familiar aroma of unironed linen and ink. I buried my tormented eyes in my shoulder. The morning was grey and cold, but his face was warm.  
-What a joy to see you, son. -Covered in dust and smiling, he looked up and down at me. -You look tired. Do they make you work too hard in the barracks?  
My ears felt like they were burning. I was about to answer when a pile of scrolls fell from the bunk.  
-Did you bring a whole library with you, Father?  
-Not at all! -ust Seneca's dialogues, some Cato, some Pliny and some Martial satires. Gods, they're the ones that fell. Here, take them. No, wait. Take it all inside while I kiss my daughter.  
Delphi peeked through the door of the house like a little bird.  
-Father! -Father! -she exclaimed, throwing himself into his arms.  
-Did you miss me, little one? -he asked, and gave her a kiss. -I have a gift named after you.  
-A pony? -asked the little girl excitedly.  
-No, it didn't fit in my bunk. It's a nice set of corals, so you look as pretty as your mother.  
-Albus! -Bella appeared at the bottom of the stairs with her orange silk and her wedding pearls. -Finally at home!  
I dropped the scrolls and bent down to pick them up. I saw her whispering affectionate words in my father's ear without losing her winning smile. How did she manage that? Only an hour before she was groaning on top of me, and digging her nails into my back. How was she able to do that and then look into my father's eyes and welcome him?  
-Welcome home," said Bella, and kissed her husband on the cheek. Over his shoulder, her eyes fell on me.  
I thought I could never look my father in the face again.  
At least it was all over, and he would never find out. Bella wouldn't dare do anything with me under the same roof.  
That night, she stared at me with her dark eyes as she licked the rim of a wine glass. I knocked over a plate of grapes.  
-Watch out! -exclaimed my father. He reached for the plate in flight before it fell off the table. -What's the matter with you, son? You look bad.  
-They're keeping you very busy at the barracks, my dear," said Bellatrix as she filled her husband's glass. I've hardly seen his hair these two months. -Delphi is very sad because he doesn't listen to her anymore.  
-I'll... I'm going to ask for a transfer," I said. There's a company of Praetorian Guards accompanying the emperor on Dacia.  
-Just now that I'm back? -he protested.  
-I'm sure there's no hurry," Bella intervened with a calculated smile.  
I rose, about to throw the grapes away again.  
-I must get back to the barracks," I said, holding the plate just in time.  
-Stay, son! -he insisted, sitting up. -I'm going to take Delphi to bed and sort these scrolls out. You can stay and entertain Bellatrix with your little soldier battles.  
My heart stopped and I felt a prick in the pit of my stomach.  
-Are you going to start sorting those papers now, Albus? -said Bellatrix, not looking away from me. -You'll be all night!  
-Better do it as soon as possible. If I leave them lying around, the slaves will try to sort them out, and then I won't find anything.  
-I have to go, -I said, in a pleading tone.  
-Stay," insisted Bella, placing her hand on my arm.  
Go, go before you wish to die.  
But I stayed.

DELPHI

I watched from the door the tired figure sitting a few feet away. I took a deep breath... I really didn't want to have another attack in front of him, I'd have enough to deal with. Maybe my mother thought I would be so foolish not to understand that something was absolutely wrong, and felt a storm coming on. No one...thought that in my head I was going to go around...I knew so many things, but I was fervently afraid, I didn't have a shred of courage.  
-Father? -I called out to him from the door.  
He smiled at me, already dressed for bed in my white nightgown.  
-Don't worry, Delphini, I'm going to kiss you good night right now.  
-No, Mother sent me. She told me she had a surprise for you after dinner. -He nodded, "So she told me to come and get you if you didn't leave your library an hour after dinner, and to take you immediately to her bedroom.  
He laughed and said:  
-Wow! -I'll have to leave Catullus and surrender to the ladies of the house.  
I took him by the hand and we left the library. My little bare feet were stepping on the tiles as I led him up the stairs to his mother's quarters.  
-I like Mother's bedroom. It's blue and silver, and her bed is shaped like a shell. Today she let me play with her jewelry in her bed, when she asked me to come get you.  
-Wow! She did?  
I thought bitterly, I'm sure she thought she was right to leave...that we would be a happy family afterwards, I wanted to scream, cry, warn him...but no voice came out...if I forced a little more, I would go back to my old ways.  
We stopped at my mother's bedroom door.  
-Now, little one, go to sleep," he said. I'll tell you a story later.  
I nodded, walking beside my nanny...to vomit and cover my ears. 

ALBUS

-Father, please! -shouted Draco as he stumbled out into the hall and tried to tie his robe. Let me explain to you...  
My mind was completely blank... I felt nothing, I felt there was nothing to say, but my subconscious knew perfectly well that it was not so, that perhaps a common person should have felt anger, the desire to kill, to destroy tales coming their way for seminal betrayal... but I felt nothing, perhaps a hint of disgust for the bizarre scene.  
-Let me just...  
-Another time. I promised your sister I'd tell her a story.  
Draco... Draco was a victim, I knew it, something told me, it was easy to believe because of his pitiful state in which he looked like a rag out of his mind since he arrived.  
-Father, you've got to believe me," he pleaded about to scream, unable to control the volume of his voice. I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to.  
-I believe you.  
I snapped my fingers and the slaves scattered. Behind Draco, on her back, still visible through the half-open door, Bella had put on her nightgown and sat in front of her dressing room whistling as she combed her hair.  
-I don't want you to think that... - said Draco, and he tied up his hair, drenched in sweat. -I'm not saying it's not my fault, but...  
-Please.   
-Please, what...  
-I don't want to know the details.  
-But I have to...  
-No.  
He knew that "no" well. The last time he heard it he was fourteen and had begged me to let him go to Baiae for a festival. I pronounced it just like in the Senate. He fell silent at once and the words choked in his throat.  
-Your cousin Theodore is in Agrippinensis, in Germania," I said in a low, slow voice. I was standing, in my robe and my sandals, but I could not hide the slight grimace on my lips... but I could not collapse, not in the presence of my daughter... -A change of scenery will do you good. Theodore thinks I'm a crazy old man, but he appreciates you... who are descended from the Malfoy.   
He'd love to have you around for a couple of months.  
-I shall leave tomorrow," said Draco, in a stormy attack of anguish, "as soon as I speak to Centurion Dense.  
-I will arrange everything.  
-Well, then... I'll be off.  
-That's the best you can do.  
-By the gods, Father...  
Draco's voice broke and he was unable to finish the sentence. He tried to say the words "I'm sorry," but found them inappropriate. I turned and set out to ignore him, I was aware of his struggle against the tears that were beginning to form in his eyes... oh my son, I did not really prepare you to be strong in other aspects of your life, now my duty was to save you.

BELLATRIX

It was a long hour before I heard my husband's hesitant steps coming to my door.  
-Come in, Albus," I said as I nibbled on a plate of sweets. The sooner we sort this out, the sooner I can go to sleep.  
He came in, old man, miserable and broken, like one of the old Delphi dolls. He managed to look me in the eyes, but you could see the wrinkles around his mouth.  
-You're late," I said.  
-I was putting my daughter to bed.  
I smiled sweetly, putting three pieces of candy in my mouth and waiting for him to bring it up.  
-Are you in love with my son, Bella?  
-What?  
I was stunned. I didn't expect the conversation to start like this.  
-Phaedra fell in love with Hippolytus," said Albus, and sat down slowly in my blue silk chair. -I don't think that's the case with you, but it's better to rule out all possibilities.  
-You're a romantic, my dear. Am I in love with Draco? Don't be absurd. Who's Phaedra?  
-Nobody you know.  
-Your stepson is very entertaining, but he looks too much like you. At least in some ways.  
I pulled out my hair so he could see the marks his son's lips had left on my neck.  
-May I ask you a simple question, Bellatrix? -he said and closed his eyes. -I'm afraid it's not very original, but... Why?  
-Isn't it obvious? If you hadn't insisted on preventing me from returning to Rome.  
-Wow," he said, rubbing his nose, "I should have known better. I suppose you'll want a divorce now, won't you?  
-And why would I want that?  
-Then why did you put on this whole show?   
-To teach you a lesson, Albus. You deserved it. You got me out of Rome just as I got the emperor's attention.  
-The emperor! -He laughed. -He's all yours, Bella, you have my approval.  
-I'll get it, but to get a lover I need a husband first, don't I? Men don't like women with no strings attached.  
-Well, find someone else. I'll give you back your dowry and you can marry whoever you want.  
-Are you kidding? Being a wealthy middle-class girl, you were the only thing my father could find for me. Even though I wasn't a virgin then.  
-That's your problem, -he said, looking at me with disgust. -I won't have you under the same roof as my daughter.  
-Your daughter? How can you be so sure she's yours, when I've slept with every rich man in Rome behind your back?  
-Delphi is mine. You know very well that the rules of that social life you lead say that whoring doesn't start until after you have children.  
His indifferent tone took me by surprise, as did his way of expressing himself, as if he were analyzing an interesting legal concept instead of his own wife. I bowed my head and said:  
-"Well, you'll just have to put up with me, because I'm not going anywhere.  
-Do you think you're going to open my eyes, Bella? They already are, and I don't like what I see. Does that surprise you? So I'm going to divorce you. Do you know how a Roman divorce works, darling? All I have to do is pronounce the legal papers and you'll have to leave my house. But don't worry, you'll keep your dowry. You've done well, you deserve a few thousand sesterces, even if you managed to corrupt my son.  
He gave me a cold look, his eyes narrowed with anger. His voice sounded with a slow patrician leave. How dare he look at me as if I were an emperor and I an insect? I wiped the smile from my face and said:  
-No, Albus, no divorce. You will return to Rome and take me with you. You will pay for all my whims and ask no questions when I return home at dawn smelling of the emperor. Either you do that, or I sink you.  
-Try it," he said calmly, "and you'll go down with me.  
-Do you know how the courts work, dear? -I asked him, looking him straight in the eye. -They are made up of men, fickle and receptive. I know men, Albus. You fell into my net, didn't you? And look what I did with Draco, the upright and noble soldier. The men in those courts are no different from the others. I know how to make them believe me.  
-Create what? -he exclaimed, "A cheating wife? Do you know how many cases like this they see every week?  
-And this, do they see every week?  
I stood up, put my hands to my face, pretended to tremble, and started to say  
-Draco forced me... I didn't want to. Never! He's my stepson. But he raped me, and when I went to tell Albus, he laughed. He said it was part of my duties as a wife. I knew the things Draco was forcing me to do were unnatural, but I was so afraid.  
I raised my head and, after a pause, I asked him:  
-What do you think? Oh, Albus, you look at me as if I had snakes in my head.  
-I wish it were so," he said, in a cautious tone, "I would have been better off marrying Medusa.  
-If you ask for a divorce, I'll have Draco convicted of rape. The judges will believe me, Albus; they will believe me when I tell them that I was raping myself with your consent; they will believe me when I tell them that I was seeking refuge in other men because of the abuse you gave me; they will believe me when I tell them that Deplhi is not your daughter but Draco's. .. When I'm done talking, you'll be nothing but an old man who only wanted to get his hands on an eighteen-year-old girl and her money. Draco will be a rapist and the Praetorian Guard will get rid of him. Delphi will be a bastard of incest. -I leaned back, smiling. -But I'll be divorced and free and rich. My father will wish to kill you for daring to harm his poor daughter, and I will soon marry again. Because I'll take care of all your money, plus my dowry, dear. And I'm sure the emperor will not object. You've never counted on his appreciation. So, you see, it's in your best interest to have me by your side.  
He didn't bother to beg. He merely looked at me with troubled eyes.  
-What is it you seek?  
-Your collaboration, your complicity and your silence. Nothing more. We don't have to live together. Just to keep up appearances. -I got up and yawned. -I'm sorry. By the gods, it's too late. I think we've said it all, haven't we? We're going to Rome this week, and I have a lot of luggage to prepare.  
Albus sat there, silent, like a catacomb, staring blankly. Yes, that's how it was. I was the empress, and he was the insect. He made me feel a little compassionate, so I bent down and put my lips to his cheek.  
-Don't despair, darling. If you don't get too heavy, I might stop by your room once in a while. You'd like that, wouldn't you?  
When I ran a finger across his face, he grabbed me tightly by the wrist.  
-Lady," he said, formally, "I'd rather sleep with a snake.  
My smile faded and he left.

ALBUS

The crescent was bright enough for me to see my stepson ride out the barn door. He would ride north to Agrippinensis in Germania. My breath formed clouds of mist in the cool night air, and my drooping shoulders could be guessed from the window.  
Theodore will take him in, I thought. He'll fill his days with parties and his nights with rented courtesans. The Agrippinensis matrons will put their daughters in his way, and he may marry in a hurry to forget what happened. But she won't make it. He will open the window on those cold nights in Germania and sit shivering until dawn, thinking of Bellatrix and wishing to stick a sword in her. Oh, Draco.  
The moonlit road was empty. The night was cold, and I closed the window.  
-Would you like anything, dominus? -asked the butler of the house.  
-I want the truth," I said, turning round. -How long has it been?  
-A few months," said the butler, hesitatingly.   
The man had been running Dumbledore's house for years, and he knew the look on his face. I instructed him to continue  
-I was going to write to you, Dominus, but Mrs Bellatrix threatened me... -Slaves are afraid of you. The lady is not... a good mistress.  
Something else I didn't know about that idra.  
-It was a good idea to send the young master to Germania, dominus. He will soon forget there.  
Are you sure? I thought.  
-Thank you, you may go.   
On the desk was the draft of the new treaty, which I had finished a week before I returned home. A proposal for improvements in the laws of succession. I unrolled the scrolls until I came to the words I had proudly written the night before: "Dedicated to my wife. A surprise I had in store for Bella who, like Draco, did not understand my texts, but had managed to pretend very well that they interested her.  
I looked for a calamus, sharpened its tip, uncorked the ink and removed the dedication with two firm lines. I did not make a cross, for wise men do not smear and senators do not cry. I left the parchment to dry and crossed my arms.

HERMIONE

It was strange, that pale blond boy hadn't been around lately. I assumed there would be some crisis in the Praetorian Guard headquarters. It was remarkable because of how often he came specifically, plus of course, his undoubted physical appearance that was difficult to mistake. Or perhaps his soft, charming stepmother had already done something colorful to keep him from returning, I thought mockingly.  
-You're a musician, girl," praetor Newt told me.- An artist. You should have an audience, not customers.  
-I prefer to think of them as suitors, dominus.  
I didn't know why to complain, it was too much profit for me, and he couldn't complain about noises at night either... since I'd never put them to bed.  
-What's wrong with entertaining a young officer once in a while? -I said with a sarcastic smile  
-Nothing, but you only do when you're offered expensive gifts.  
-I have a child to support, -I replied with a chuckle  
-I'm glad you mentioned it... my brother has already had several headaches from that crack," said New.- I'm sorry, but he questions where the hell I got it from and I can only blame you for that.  
-What good is a barbarous, brutal individual to us," I said casually.  
And immediately Newt began to reproach me for my cynicism and to tell me a lot of things about the boy, and that he would give him back to me, as if that would not harm him.  
Too late.  
The thought of Harry was like a vortex... A stormy, desperate one in my subconscious mind.  
Looking furiously at Newt, I turned away, heading for the powder room. They were never completely erased. I still remembered the rough touch of his jaw; all his scars; I was still able to run my fingers over every mark on his body. Harry kissing me; Harry covered with blood and shaking in the sand; Harry surprising me with his deep, short laugh; Harry crushing my bones with his weight.  
For the first few months after that incident I was desperate, even thinking of sending him a letter on the Via Appia. But with what resources? And also for a long time I held a grudge against him and even hated him... Why did he never look for me? Why did I never hear of any news of an escape attempt by him? Of a possible purchase at the whorehouse where I was delivered? That ate me up inside and filled me with anger and suspicion, deciding that risking my safety on a canvas was not worth it. And after years I understood the error of my day-to-day living...it definitely wasn't worth risking on a canvas. Harry couldn't read. Alastor controlled all his correspondence, and the lanista had no reason to pass on a letter from me. I was to blame that his best gladiator had become vulnerable. I had made him human, and that made him more likely to die. Surely Alastor would have seen my letter and torn it up.  
I'm done with nonsense. What good would it do? Even if Harry wanted to move land and sea, his destiny... our destiny was already written, he possessed the strength of a god... in battle, in death; in life and love he was but a small fish lost in the immensity, and acting in society as such was not his thing for long. I would never go to Rome, because Newt hated the city and that conceited wife who spent her money and lived in a mansion on Mount Aventine. My master had his nest in Brundisium, and there he would grow up, singing and knowing this world. The world would know me and I would be able to go beyond this city...but through performances, mansions and palaces as checkpoints, I would not be free as I was before moving through the streets of civilizations.  
My only God and leader was me (figuratively) and I would continue like that, I had a very powerful excuse already to continue. This time I had more chance to prevent people; more Romans from taking more of my will than they have now, from being so subjugated, from being drowned in the corrosive emotions of pride and whimsy.   
I clenched my fists with vice and my eyes narrowed with contempt  
My head was forming a vengeance, a scary, provocative one... but this one wasn't aimed at Harry.

HARRY

-What a depressing place, isn't it?  
I shrugged my shoulders as Alastor closed the curtains on the ox-drawn palanquin. I'd been to Germania before, during my first tour of the provinces, when after pulling out Bellatrix Lestrange's hair, Alastor thought it would be wise to leave the city for a while. Five years later, it looked the same: cold, raw and new. Wind-whipped huts clung to barren slopes, while in the valleys the Roman cities looked like shining cauldrons. Natives in chains worked in fields filled with frozen mud, and directed accusing glances at the passage of my caravan.  
-They are a sullen people, these Germans," he said, and wrapped himself in their skins.  
I had gained so much from my previous tour of the provinces that he felt the time had come for another tour.  
-A real barbarian, like you, my boy. Don't try to escape again, okay? If necessary, I'll put you in shackles.  
I tried to escape during the first tour. My face and my gladiator tattoo gave me away at five miles. After that, Alastor watched me constantly whenever we left Italy. I never tried again. It wasn't worth it.  
I fought in four fights that winter in the amphitheatres of Germania, and had to face champions in wolf's clothing and horned helmets, and I killed them all. After the fights, Alastor would rent me out to parties and dinners where I met governors, legates, chariots and senators, patrician women who were dressed up and took me to bed, and effeminate-eyed tribunes who wished to do the same. I liked to slip away from the bustle of the banquets and take refuge in the darkness of the icy gardens to gaze at the starry sky, which seemed much bigger and brighter than under the mist and smoke of Rome. Germany! Gaul was to the left, and Britain a little further away.  
Agrippinensis, a city of three to four. A fight with a Germanic, and then a banquet in the cold palace of Governor Theodore Nott. The walls were made of wood instead of marble, and the lamps gave off smoke from the coarse Germanic oil, but there would be oysters in wine sauce, larks' tongues stewed in herb butter, cakes filled with olives and cheese - and cold, frothy, lethal Britannia mead. I'd drink it in one gulp, remembering how my brothers would get drunk on it. At the governor's banquet I saw a lot of young tribunes getting drunk on mead. The governor's cousin, I watched in disgust, seemed the drunkiest of them all. He was a praetorian. Those palace guards couldn't drink.  
-I saw you fight today," the praetorian challenged me, his face red, his white robe stained with wine, and his eyes shining with hostility. -It cost you a bit, didn't it?  
-But I won," I said, not looking up from my plate.  
-I bet a hundred dinars on you. If you lose...  
-By Jove, Draco," exclaimed Governor Theo, all smiles and spins, reaching out to his young cousin. -Don't mess with our guest. He'd tear you to pieces with his bare hands and no one could stop him. -He winked in my direction. Don't listen to my cousin, Barbarian. A disappointment in love, you know...  
-He could write to me sometime," he muttered, staggering as the slaves helped him back to his triclinium. -But nothing, not a word. Damn cow!  
-Poor Draco,' said the governor, amused, 'I'd better send him to bed before Regulus gets the better of him. There he is, Regulus. He's governor of Germania Regulus, you know. He likes boys, especially pretty young drunks like Draco. Anyway, in a year's time he won't be here anymore.  
Theodore adjusted his wig, sticking out his chest while his noble guests watched him chatting so amicably with me.  
-It's a gossip you won't hear in Rome, Barbarian. Regulus will cease to be governor at the end of the year. Tom likes to amuse himself with such promiscuous men, you see. What do you think? Everyone knows a beautiful boy is much better at fucking than any woman. You'll have a hard time finding people in Rome who disagree with me, but it turns out our emperor is one of them. Oh, when I think of Nero and his boys. Well, these are different times, and men like Regulus are going to have a hard time.  
Theodore pointed to a tall, gated patrician, with a straight back like a military man, who drank wine while sitting with a face of few friends.  
-All he has left to drown his sorrows are drunken young men like Draco. When the news of his dismissal arrives in Rome, Barbarian, tell them that you already knew it thanks to me.  
-Do you think I care who rules your bloody provinces? -I spied on him.  
Theo's smile disappeared for a moment, but he got it back.  
-Oh, how nice! -he exclaimed cheerfully.- The dancers are ready. They are beautiful, aren't they? If you want one, they're all yours.  
I concentrated on my mead, looking on indifferently at the supple brown bodies wiggling naked on the mosaics. The next day they would go from Agrippinensis to Tanus. The champion of Dumnonia was waiting for me, and had sworn in public that he would send the Barbarian to rest with his gods. I wanted him to keep his promise.

DRACO

December passed and January arrived, in what was an ethylic and miserable winter for me. But the alcohol and sadness vanished when the news arrived at my cousin's palace that Regulus, the governor of Upper Germania, had launched a revolt. He had proclaimed himself emperor and, at the head of an army of legionnaires and natives, was heading for Agrippinensis.

ALBUS

-Now the Germania Superior! -Senator Aberfurt muttered. -What's next? Gaul? Spain?  
There was a murmur. The Senate session had gone on as usual. The matter of the rebellion had scarcely been mentioned. Regulus was regarded as an upstart, an embittered old soldier with a handful of natives whose faces were painted blue in his wake. More senators than usual, however, had remained at the conclusion of the session, forming groups on the marble steps, fiddling nervously with the edges of their robes.  
-If Egypt joins in, we will be blocked...  
-And meanwhile, the emperor in Dacia...  
Aberfort's voice was heard again, low and frightened:  
-I propose that we negotiate as soon as possible with Regulus, not another period like the four emperors, with senators falling because they allied themselves with the wrong suitor. Do we want...  
-The year of the four emperors! -My voice finally came back to cut through the commotion like a knife. Glances were directed at me who sat apart and circled over the marble balustrade with a calamus. I wondered how long it would take you to bring it up. It has been twenty years now, and you still cannot talk about it without shaking.  
-Easy for you to say, Dumbledore,' protested Aberforth. -You don't have to worry about your life when heads start rolling, what do you know about shaking?  
-I only know that as we speak my son is in Lower Germany,' I said, looking up from the calamus. -I know that he does not have imperial blood in his veins, as I do, and that Governor Theodore has appointed him commander of the legions of Lower Germania, in deference to his family name. That means that when Regulus reviews his major threats, Draco will be at the top of the list.  
Silence has been restored. I stood with difficulty, old and weary under my senator's robe. My face was furrowed with deep wrinkles and my back more crooked than ever. But my voice still echoed in the Senate, and all the groups of frightened men turned to look at me.  
-The year of the four emperors, the year after Nero, the year of Merlin, Orion, Herpus and Gellert. Many of us remember it perfectly. Me, at least. Merlin confiscated my family's property, Orion sent my father a kind invitation to commit suicide, Herpo locked me in a cell where I spent three months reading the few books my remaining friends brought me, and wondering if I would be murdered at any time. Three months in which my back was deformed forever. When Gellert took power and decided to let me out because I was harmless, I found myself sick, orphaned, poor, crippled, and alone, since almost my entire family had decided to get rid of the "protection" provided by our imperial name.  
I lowered the tone of my voice, and smiled openly before continuing:  
-So, yes, I remember that year well. A year of ambitious usurpers who murdered, mutinied and turned Rome into an inferno. We looked at Regulus wondering if it was a new Orion or another Herpus. We look at Egypt or Hispania wondering if there will be other Orions and Herons waiting to jump. Some wonder how long it will take them to drive us out of Rome. Others wonder if it will be possible to play with both sides and get away unscathed no matter who wins. But I assure you," his eyes wandered through the ranks of senators, "some of us wondered if we could not let Tom and Regulus kill each other and take over once we were both dead.  
More than one blinked in disbelief.  
-But, all speculation aside, no one wants another year of the four emperors, do they? No. I could lose a son, and I have a daughter to look after. And if a cell at thirty-three got me grey and humped, imagine what would become of me at fifty-three.  
There was a new wave of contained laughter.  
-Even those of you who think you'd be better emperors than Tom or Regulus, do you want another war? I don't think so. Not if you stop to think about the costs.  
Suddenly, I raised my voice, which reached the farthest corners of the room.  
-But that's what you're going to bring, war, if you keep gathering us in frightened corridors to whisper about giving the rebel a free hand. You are paving the road for war, and I will have no part in it, because I hate to let anyone go!  
My stately, steady gaze, which I inherited from my ancestor, pierced them all.  
-Least of all a being as ambitious as Regulus. So, until you are ready to give your unconditional support, because unconditional support is the only thing that stops ambitious people with armies, until then, dear senators, I am going home. I'm going to see my daughter, worried that your quarrels may condemn her to end up strung up on a Germanic lance.  
In complete silence, Senator Albus Percibal Brayan Dumbledore left the Senate.

-Father? -said Deplhi, pulling my hand.  
-What?  
The little girl's hair had fallen out and she ran it through her hair. Although the winter winds did not blow on our faces, Minerva's altar was a dour marble place and no one came near it with their head uncovered.  
-Why do the gods prefer white bulls?  
The pontiff gave us a reproving look as he advanced the beast, and I put a finger to my daughter's lips. Inside, I laughed. White bulls, white swans, white pigs... why did the gods like white sacrifices? With so many mothers begging for their children in Germania, on one side or the other of the rebellion, there were almost no white animals left in Rome. As soon as I left the Senate, I went to the marketplace to find a beast to sacrifice and paid an exorbitant sum for a scrawny steer whose flesh would not have fed a family of five.  
-The gods only want blood, Delphi.  
The pontiff led the animal to the temple steps. Two priests murmured prayers as the bull raised its muzzle in disgust. The stairs were covered with blood, sticky. Delphi was nervous, but had insisted on accompanying me. "I want to pray for Draco too." I let him hide his face in the folds of my robe when he put the knife down. The steer fell to its knees and I stepped forward to wash my hands in the stream of blood.  
-Minerva, protect my son, -I asked.  
Confused images ran through my mind of the thin four-year-old boy who confessed to putting a beetle in his mother's cup; the teenager who proudly wore his first Praetorian Guard armor; the man who groaned in agony under Bellatrix's fingernails.  
-Minerva, goddess of soldiers, I promise you a thousand cows, white or any color, if my son comes home safe and sound.  
Interlacing my gloved fingers, as the priests prayed and the animal died, I added:  
-Blood for blood.

DRACO

-We have done what we could," said Major Bartemius, shrugging his shoulders. -Now all that remains is to wait.  
I glanced sidelong at my second one, medium height and stocky, with a square back and twelve or thirteen years older than me. The shell was like his second skin. Bartemius led the strongest and most seasoned legionnaires of the Lower Germania. On merit, he should have been in command of the offensive against Regulus, but Governor Theodore had hysterically insisted on appointing me commander of both legions, in violation of all the laws of military rank. Suddenly sober after a blurry month of wine and remorse, I had not refused.   
I could not rejoice, knowing that civil war was just around the corner, but neither could I stop a voice from singing happily within me: "Commander of two legions! Commander of two legions!" Bartemius was not too happy about it either.  
-I need you," I had told him bluntly.- I don't know this country, I don't know your soldiers, I don't know the terrain. You'll be my second.  
-Yes, commander," he answered coldly. I will be happy to serve under you.  
-You don't have to talk nonsense," I said. "Can I trust you?  
Bartemius' honest eyes did not leave me.  
-Are you as effeminate as your cousin? -he asked sneeringly, and from that moment on we hit it off.  
Barty took it upon himself to organize the hasty defense of the city, advising me where the cohorts would be best placed. The main contribution I made was to prevent Barty from strangling Theodore, who was still cramped in his rough palace with wooden walls, whining.  
Mounted on our horses, side by side, we waited, wrapped in heavy cloaks, breathing out mist in the icy air. Before them were the perfect ranks of legionnaires, leaning on their shields and talking.  
-And tell me, what are you doing in Germania, instead of serving your comfortable palace destination? -What is your sin, Dumbledore? Women, family or debt?  
I hesitated before answering:  
-"Women, although, on the face of it, it's also a question of family.  
-Someday I will take over a rebellious province with a horde of screaming Germans.  
-So will I.  
I passed a lock of my horse's mane across his neck. In a way, as the battle was about to begin, Bella seemed very far away. I couldn't remember her well, not with the smell of snow, mud and steel in my nose, and the crackle of the shields in her ears. It was a male smell, she had no place there.  
Barty looked at the sky and commented:  
-"The sun's going to come out.  
-Good.  
A sunny day, a battle, an attempt to save the Empire from civil war... If I died, my father would be proud.  
A horse stopped in front of us. Its hoofs gave off icy mud as it skidded across the ground. The scout got off and gave me a military salute.  
-Commander, we've seen Regulus. The 11th and 14th legions are coming from the northwest.  
-He's bringing reinforcements? -Barty asked.  
-There's no sign, sir.  
-Well," I said as I felt the sheath of my sword. -Deploy the first division.  
Yes, a beautiful day to die.  
-Go ahead!

With the formation broken up, Regulus' men left their disciplined ranks for hand-to-hand combat. The snow turned red from the harshness of battle. Tense and squinting, he tried to follow everything.  
-Is there progress on the southern flank? - shouted when Barty stopped his whinnying horse, whose hooves skidded across the snow.  
-We're holding position.  
With the reins in one hand and the sword in the other, Bartemius looked like the reincarnation of Mars on earth. They had to speak loudly to be heard amidst the howling of the wounded, the cries of the victorious legionnaires, the thuds of the helmets, and the metallic clashes of the shields.  
-No trace of Regulus.  
-He's up there," I said, and pointed to a hill on the riverbank. I could hardly stand still in my saddle. Sweat was dripping into my armour, wishing I had Barty's calm, waiting to charge out and fight like the Legionnaires.  
-Safe in the rear.  
He added a string of derogatory comments about the appearance of his enemy, his ancestry and his sexual tastes. I forced a smile. The aides stirred restlessly, waiting to be sent out, but there were no orders to pass on at the moment. Just a hard fist fight.  
The sun appeared among the clouds and sent its shimmering rays onto the battlefield. The snow turned to mud as the footprints, the warmth of the sun, and the breath of the combatants, all of which were entangled in a jumble of armor. A legionnaire - mine, Barty's or Regulus', who knows - slipped in a puddle and was pierced by another man's gladius.  
-Do you think we should...?  
A long, bubbling howl cut me. We both turned and looked out over the woods.  
-Wild! -said Barty, followed by a chain of oaths. May they rot in Hades!  
I threw my horse down a steep embankment, treading on the body of a legionnaire who had fallen with a spear in his eye at the beginning of the battle.  
-For Hades! -I exclaimed.  
-What do they look like? -Barty shouted from below.  
-Cats, surely. About eight hundred of them, with clubs, wolf skins and tattoos," I shouted to my Aide.  
A few short blasts from the trumpets, and the legionnaires prepared in their ranks. The cats came out of the woods like wolves, howling at their strange gods.   
At the front, a paladin carrying a Roman shield on which rested the head of a poor legionnaire, shouted at anyone who approached him. Behind him, the others howled, begging for blood like a herd of wild animals loose in the infernal arena. In the distance, the shouts of joy from Regulus' men could be heard. I grabbed the hilt of my sword, blood rushing through my veins. They drew closer and closer. They were running towards the icy course of the Rhine. I was tired of waiting, I wanted to charge into the mass and skewer the paladin, cut off his head, put it on my shield and send him straight to his bloody hell...  
-Minerva," I whispered to the goddess of military strategy, "help us.  
I grabbed the handle tighter as the screams assaulted my ears and the dark swarm was hurled over the frozen river.  
The river...  
-By the gods! -I muttered, "By the gods!  
It was not Minerva, but Fortune, the goddess of luck, who passed over my head, flapping her golden wings.  
-What's the matter? -asked Barty, and stopped his horse, which was already going into battle.  
The second wave of Germans appeared over the frozen river just as Barty climbed the embankment. I could almost hear the ice cracking and they were sinking. A group of Germans cried out in fear as they fell into the icy waters.  
\- The sun," Barty understood, incredulously. -This damn sun.  
The screams stopped and the Germans began to retreat and regroup. They tried a new advance and a whole plate of ice sank. The first row of savages disappeared into the waters of the Rhine. Despite the din of battle, they could hear their cries and splashes as they drowned. The head that rested on the paladin's shield swayed smiling in the sun as its bearer sank, choking in his bearskin.  
I whistled, calling my aide:  
-Attacking sound. We must press Regulus against the hill.  
The aides scattered, smiling, and the trumpets sounded again. Barty let out a cheerful cry. I bent down, picked up a spear, and held it in my hands.  
-Go ahead? -asked Barty with a smile.

-You're alive! -exclaimed Theo, and brought his hands to his scrawny cheeks. He looked as if he had aged ten years. Slaves and women fluttered around him, and they opened their eyes like plates at the sight of the two dirty soldiers before them. By Jupiter, if you had died in this rebellion... Draco?  
-He's still a bit dazed," said Barty behind his back.- He's become a hero.  
I blinked. I was alive. I almost didn't believe it.  
\- The little man made his way up the hill until he came to Regulus.  
A group of young courtiers smiled at me, patting me on the shoulder and congratulating me. They were blurry, I could only think of Regulus.   
He was a soldier and wanted real work, instead of cattle shows and native hurricans. I was going with the idea of killing Regulus, but when I got to the top of the hill I found out that the man had cut his guts out with a dagger. He stared at me with his bloodshot eyes, slowly dying. I put an end to his agony by piercing his heart with my gladius. When Barty arrived, he saw me leaning against a tree with Regulus' severed head at my side.  
-the fourteen were slaughtered, and the eleven fled in droves. They'll be lucky to escape with their lives.  
I thought I would have wished that Regulus had killed me. Now I had to face Bella and my father again. The battle had changed nothing. Everything was as it had been before. In the heat of battle things were simpler.  
-behind the barbarians, but I bet only one in ten will have made it out of the Rhine alive.  
A fat woman with a pink stola sighed in relief and fainted. The slaves surrounded her recklessly. I stared at her flabby white legs until Barty grabbed my arm and pulled me out. The rest of the day - and of the week - went by wildly. Barty pursued the rebel legionnaires with pleasure. Regulus' decapitated body was publicly displayed in front of the governor's palace, where it was left to rot as a warning to future usurpers. Wherever Barty and I went, we were greeted with applause by the citizens and with clashes of shields from the soldiers.  
-Stop pouting," said Bartemius. -We are heroes.  
-Will you stop repeating that? -I grumbled.  
-You're a weird guy, Dumbledore. Everyone dreams of being a hero.  
-You're the hero here. I'll get you a good job, if it's the last thing I do.  
-Me, a pencil pusher? -he scoffed. -I'm a soldier, no more, no less. Let's get drunk and go whoring. Which do you prefer, boys or girls?  
-Girls," I answered, reluctantly.  
-Listen to this," said Barty with a smile, "girls may be prettier, but boys are less trouble. You don't have to...  
-No, that's not my thing.  
I was used to those proposals. Half my friends and nearly all my superiors preferred young ephebes to their wives.  
-Pity. Would you like to get drunk?  
-Yes, by the gods.  
I got a letter from my father, which came in a quick mail. A sheet of parchment, with just one line: "Well done, son. Albus."  
-He hates me! -I exclaimed as I read the letter.- He denies me. He doesn't even congratulate me.  
I crumpled up the letter and threw it on the floor. Then I spent the next hour trying to smooth it out. Bella wrote me nothing.  
After a week, the emperor appeared.  
-You're Dumbledore, aren't you?  
My knees shook at those famous snake eyes. I stared at the wall behind the emperor's head.  
-I know your father. In two hours, come and dine with me," the emperor ordered. Then he turned to Theo and added: "Bring the traitors, we will take care of them.  
-All of them, sir and God?  
-Only the officers, the legionnaires can wait until tomorrow. Prepare their execution.  
The emperor's purple cloak fluttered as he crossed the courtyard briskly. Twelve praetorian guards, six secretaries, a handful of generals, a few slaves, and Theodore Nott followed at a trot.  
-Well, that's how Caesar punishes treason," said Bartemius after releasing a whistle. -I like his style.  
\- He hasn't even judged them," I commented quietly.  
-What for? We already know they're guilty," said Barty as he wiped a speck of dust from my shoulder. -You'd better get pretty, boy. You're going to dinner with the most powerful man in the world.  
The most powerful man in the world barely looked up when I stood before his imperial presence, and he greeted me coldly.  
-Dumbledore," he said, sharp, "sit down and eat. It's a barracks ranch, when I'm in the field I don't like to eat soft things.  
I sat down, picking up my cloak between the legs of the stool, and served myself modestly. I ate for ten minutes in silence, watching as the emperor gobbled up his food while dictating a letter to a couple of secretaries between bites, and glancing quickly at a pile of mail. Hard army bread and simple stew were very rare in Theodore's golden plates. Like Tom himself, he sat on silk cushions with a leather breastplate and a crude legionnaire's robe, glancing through a dozen threadbare folders full of papers. He looked at him in the background: the man his father considered a good general and a great administrator; the man who could slit the throats of whole legions and be tender with his demented niece; the man whose depravity was known and who had set his eyes on Bella was now sitting before him in a simple tent, with less silk and gold than his secretaries.  
At that moment, the emperor looked up. I blushed and concentrated on the food, but it was too late  
-Tell me, Dumbledore, the imperial voice made me look up instantly. You are a tribune of my Praetorian Guard.  
-Yes, Caesar. I was stationed at Brundisium.  
-Aha... -Tom called a secretary and wrote him a postscript. -On the orders of Centurion Dense?  
-Yes, Caesar, -I answered, wondering how the emperor would have known.  
-I know all the commanders of my guard," said Tom, reading my mind.  
The emperor had an elongated and extremely pale face, like that of an affable shopkeeper, but he assumed that those black eyes were not missing any detail.  
-You are the son of Senator Albus Percibal Brian Dumbledore.  
-Yes, Caesar.  
-Son of blood?  
-I am the son of Malfoy, adopted by the Senator when he died in a dispute. -I have a sister, four years old. She loves apricots. -I closed my eyes. Why did I say that?  
-Because you are nervous,' said the Emperor, amused. Caesars have that effect on people. Have some wine.  
I drank with relief.  
-So you weren't stationed here in Germania? -asked the emperor as he signed various documents.  
-No, Caesar. I was on leave. My cousin Theodore appointed me commander of the legions against my will.  
-Against your will?  
The black eyes stuck in me.  
-I did not think it a wise choice. I did not know Germania, nor Regulus and his legions. I would have achieved nothing without the help of Legate Bartemius Crouch. I recommend that you promote him to the highest rank.  
-He will receive his well-deserved reward, but you were in command.  
-It was no great battle. If the Rhine hadn't thawed...  
-I don't like the word "if," -said the emperor as he melted a piece of wax with a candle flame. -If the Rhine hadn't thawed, what? Fortune was on your side, you won, period.  
-Don't expect it to happen again, -I said, without thinking. This... I mean...  
Tom laughed.  
-Are you trying to get me to punish you instead of rewarding you? -.  
-No, Caesar.  
-I heard you killed Regulus with your own hands. -I'm not.  
The secretaries rushed to pick up a cue of letters and scrolls that Tom had thrown away.  
-He actually killed himself.  
-You could have taken credit for it, no one would have known.  
I shrugged my shoulders.  
-Let's have a little fight," said the emperor suddenly. I need practice.  
-I beg your pardon, Caesar?  
-Believe it or not, I know how to handle a sword. -He watermarked the calamus before lowering it to sign a dispatch. Unfortunately, I've lost practice because my companions have an irritating habit of letting themselves be won. Will you let yourself be won too, Tribune Malfoy?  
-This... No.  
-I thought so,' said Tom, as he tore off a stamp with his thumb and read over another letter. -Well, you've saved me the trouble of wiping out Regulus and his legion, for which I am grateful.  
-Thank you--I mean, you're welcome, Caesar.  
-It wasn't a great rebellion and I doubt they would have gone far, but you've saved me the trouble of having to subdue a rebellious province. However, I cannot grant you a triumph. There is not much to be gained from mutinies, however much they may be defeated," he said, not looking away from the letter. -So I am indebted to a man whom I cannot repay. Interesting...  
Another pause. Tom looked up from the letter and stared at me, I held his gaze not knowing what to do with my hands. The emperor gestured to his servants, the guards and the leathery secretaries. -Leave us alone. They went away in the murmur.  
-Next year, I'm promoting your cousin Theodore to the position of consul. He's a fool, but he can do little harm as a consul.  
Tom's hands stopped for the first time, dropping the calamus. He drummed on the table.  
-Commander Bartemius will have a military post that promises much action. I know how to reward faithful men, and I need them around me for when some assassin tries to take my life.  
I remembered the rumors I had heard in the mess hall of the barracks: "The emperor is afraid even of his own shadow...  
-I know they say I'm afraid of my own shadow. -Tom read my thoughts again, and I jumped up and down. But considering that of the last ten emperors, five died by the sword, it would be foolish not to fear the assassins. The job of emperor has its risks. I don't want people to feel sorry for me, but one... gets tired.  
I felt a sudden attack of sympathy for the emperor.  
-I don't envy him, Caesar," I said frankly. -People will think that I am eager to take his place because my official great-grandfather was emperor, but I wouldn't want him for the world.  
Tom looked at me gravely, opened his mouth to reply, but closed it again, and his serious gesture became thoughtful.  
-You know? -he said, pondering, 'I think I believe you.  
Our glances, curious glances, crossed again.  
Tom nodded and picked up a scroll. He wrote quickly, affixed the Imperial seal, and left the document, with the ink still fresh, on the table before me.  
I looked at the formal phrases: "... I hereby... We acknowledge the loyalty and devotion of Tribune Draco Abraxas Malfoy ¨Dumbleodre "... by way of reward... we grant him the title and responsibility of..."  
I blinked and jumped. I read again, "We grant you the title and responsibility of..."  
I looked up, stunned.  
-Cesar, it's too much for me.  
-I'll be the judge of that.  
-I'm sure there are many other men better qualified.  
-Of course, and they'll all hate you for jumping over them, and try to make your life miserable. If you accept this position, you will make hundreds of mortal enemies... Do you want it?  
-Well, of course I do, but...  
-Then why are you trying to change my mind? -  
-That's not my intention, Caesar, I just think that...  
-Haven't you been taught that you don't contradict an emperor? -No. -Tom joked, with an amused look on his face.  
I felt him open and close his mouth like a fish. My ears were burning.  
-I didn't mean to contradict you, Caesar... I just...  
-Very well,' he said, and offered me his imperial hand. -My congratulations, Prefect.

BELLATRIX

"Bellatrix!" "Mrs. Bellatrix!" "You're back!" I put out my arms. I was the guest of honor at one of Lolia Cornelia's sensational parties.  
-Honey, how boring we've been without you.   
Everyone told me how dull Rome was without me, and I was carried away by a wave of flattery. How I missed all that! Parties, suitors, jewels, gossip... That same night I was offered three dates. I made two appointments and let the third wait. It would be more fun to seduce him again, when he was in a good mood.  
-The emperor has returned to Dacia," Albus told me one day, without looking up from his texts. I'm afraid he'll be away for a while.  
-Don't worry, I'll find things to do until he returns.  
I got out just in time to see Delphi hiding behind a column. Lately, my daughter was avoiding me. If I said anything, she'd look at me without answering. How could she have given birth to such a strange child?  
-She's a complete fool," I told Emilio Graco while we were drinking wine on the bed. Just like her father. What a pair!  
I burst out laughing when Emilio improvised some malicious verses about the stupidity of my husband and daughter. By the end of that week, all of Rome was reciting them with laughter.  
-You can make fun of me," Albus said in a friendly tone, "but not of Delphi. If I hear one more verse about my daughter, I'll take you to court. I am indifferent to the stories you tell the judges. Do you understand?  
-Yes, yes- -I made fun.  
But after that I didn't let Emilio compose satires about my daughter again. Better not to force Albus too much.  
In autumn I had dinner every week at the palace, but without Tom it wasn't the same. The Empress was a hostess who was too detailed to be entertaining. Still, I shuddered with envy every time I saw her diamonds. Helena was still quiet and tense, like Delphi. She was also ugly. She had become a toothpick. Hadn't she once asked her uncle's permission to join the vestals? She wouldn't be bad around virgins. What man would want her? But the Vestals do not accept widows, no matter how much they belong to the imperial family. A pity.  
I had hundreds of plans. I was back in Rome, life was beautiful and everything was happening as I expected. I was born for it!

I was glad they crushed the little Regulus rebellion in Germania. He would not have been a good emperor. Everyone knew he liked men, what would I have done then? So, like the rest of Rome, I felt a certain relief when his rebellion was put down. Besides, there was something else for me: Tom, at last, had to return to the city. I already had a new gold-encrusted peach stola ready that would dazzle the emperor.  
-And to think that your son is the hero of the hour! -I said jokingly to Albus at one of our unusual dinners together.  
Lately we hardly saw each other, each of us had his own wing of the house, and we only met to keep up appearances. I was thinking of buying a house for myself, in some neighborhood more fashionable than Capitolina Hill.  
-Draco is a hero," said Delphi happily.  
-No, he's not, dear. Draco is a worm disguised as a person," I said, and with a smile to Albus I added, "Like father, like son.  
He ignored me, as if he were invisible, and did not tell me the news. I had to find out from Rodolphus Apicius, my last lover.  
-Prefect of the praetorium? -I jumped into bed. The emperor has appointed Draco prefect of the praetorium?  
-Surprising, isn't it? That boy must be about your age," said Rodophus, pinching my breast, "and he has served only as a tribune. A great leap for one so young.  
Prefect of the praetorium! One of the most important offices in the Empire. The eyes and ears of the emperor. Guard dog, chief of spies, commander of the emperor's private guard... Draco suddenly became one of the most powerful men in Rome  
-Albus, why didn't you tell me? -I said, indignant, on returning home.  
Without looking up from the text she was reading, he answered:  
-I was sure that one of your lovers would tell you.  
I twisted the gesture and left. How dare I deprive myself of knowing something like that? Such news was immeasurable. I had no intention of keeping Draco in my nets on his return to Rome, but that changed things. He was the emperor's right-hand man! He could get me an invitation to the palace every night. Unless he'd forgotten about me, but I didn't think so. And if he had, I'd get him to remember it quickly. Better to write to him as soon as possible, to refresh his memory.  
Maybe I should marry him. Would that be legally possible? Rome had such dull laws about incest.  
"Dear Draco..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for the next chapter!! which is very intense;)  
Preview: our imposing emperor will have contact with Harry and Hermione!


	6. VI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! here the next chapter VERY long  
take your time which is very intense  
And a surprise... there were new views from new people!  
Give me your opinion freely  
Greetings!

HELENA

The flame of the altar becomes two. I see double. Hunger makes me weak. I feel dizzy and distant, a thousand miles from this body I hate.  
"You're too thin, Helena," he reproaches me sometimes. Well, even a Caesar can't have everything. When he orders me, I eat, and when he leaves I go to the lavatorium and vomit it all out. I haven't tasted food in a week. My body is going to waste away.  
My stepsister Luna writes to me. Although she is far away in Syria, where her husband is governor, she has heard enough to be worried. "Strange rumours have come to me, my dear," she wrote in her careless handwriting. "People love to gossip, don't they? Our uncle must have raised taxes to make such things up. But enough talk. Are you all right, Griseo? You look different."  
Griseo, the nickname my father gave me as a little girl. Griseo, because I was the Griseo lady, always Griseo. Nobody calls me that anymore, only Ravenclaw, who's a thousand miles away and wouldn't have to worry about me so much.  
Albus seems worried too. There's something that makes him unhappy, but he still has time to take an interest in me. "Eat something, Helena, to get your strength back." He thinks I've gone mad.  
"By the gods, girl, you're scrawny," the empress told me last week. Her attitude towards me hasn't changed: calm, regal, polite. At most, she looks at me with a slight compassion.  
Is it because of my uncle? Or because I'm crazy?  
I ate a little when the emperor was away in Germany. But now he's coming back... I received a letter after Regulus died, and what he put in it made my body melt in an instant. But then I read it again, and it just seemed like exaggerated compliments. Can I imagine it all? The images are unconnected. I close my eyes and all that's still there is the flame.  
Vesta, goddess of earth and home, asks the fairies to shorten my life. I'm having a hard time starving.

SEVERUS  
Brundisium, 90 A.D.

The chubby, red guy who was my "captain" came back to me by twisting the arm of another faggot child and kicking the shin and thus the whole leg of an adult praetor who came to tidy up.  
I was escorted to the exit... where I wanted to be, it was fun to make bets with the street kids, to make neighborhood fights and above all to fight.  
But something else happened, they put me in a bunk bed and took me to the captain's brother's house. Locked up. Well, it had been too good to be true.  
This guy Newt had seen it before; he liked to have subjects either men or women singing, it was quite funny to see high level fags like those who were "men".  
When I arrived the subject looked at me with disapproval and then signaled to the slaves to grab me and take me somewhere I wouldn't be uncomfortable. Next to a somewhat extravagant but comforting fountain. At least now the picture was somewhat different. All my life it was the same concept and the same place...I knew nothing but this desperate port, I was able to escape a little to its outskirts to witness low-level gladiatorial fights, and that was my greatest contribution and eventually my greatest desire...that skill, that fame, glory...that power. In my home, which is the Praetorian Guard; while I was satiating my hunger for battle, there were too many boring traps and "morals" that claimed to fight for the "future"...wasn't it absolute courage they wanted? They would say anything, I was an outcast, I saw it in every glance directed towards me, it did not even have an apparent origin. Wouldn't I be a good glagator then?  
-Severus," he said, I was told to sit down by that mass of meat. -You have something to tell me.  
I took a step with my bare feet on the tiled floor and said  
-I'm sorry.  
-What are you sorry about? -He insisted, and I elbowed myself. That's cool.  
-I don't know.  
-The flute thing!  
-I said I'm sorry.  
-What about the fight with the kid on the defense? -He added.

-Damn crybaby! -I exclaimed, mockingly. -I won't apologize for that.  
-Beast! -he warned me.  
I said nothing else, just stared at him with a condescending smile.  
The guards took me by the arms and proceeded to pull me out.  
I smiled unwillingly, I had run off into the street countless times.  
-Ouch! - was doing nothing! He was just an old legionnaire. He told me that if I won a game he would show me his sword. It was a gladius, do you know it? Can I...  
-No, you can't have a gladius.  
They was slapped, and I stride out, stabbing and feinting as you would imagine the statues.  
I wasn't born to take orders! Well, I suppose I was born, that would be logical, I wasn't any legendary being, was I? Well, a "beast" wouldn't be legendary at all... just because it exists, in an arena it might become a god.  
-Scared?  
-I'm not afraid of anything.  
I turned around, actually, feeling watched, and there she was... with her haughty demeanour and always very fond of something regal, the star singer of that farm. I had seen her around this very house, and obviously in some performance they did. To many the first thing that made them distinguish her was her voice, but I never overlooked it was her eyes... perhaps because of my eternal love of battle, but they always reminded me of the color of deep fire, of magma, and made them more characteristic with their always evaluative look, appreciating them as if they had a life of their own.  
We looked at each other for a few uncomfortable and long seconds until she, without any permission, began to approach and stood to one side leaning on a column, contemplating the fountain.  
-You are bold, eh? I have been told that you want to be a gladiator  
-It would be much better than being an upstart who never does anything to get noticed and lives by licking the feet of the peacocks," I said, defending myself, although I was also very confident.  
She looked back at me with an indecipherable look and then smiled slowly. And from there I inexplicably made a connection with her  
-You said it, better than others... But don't I identify that you're not the average person?  
She offered me a red apple, something that tended to be rare, she threw it and I eagerly caught it. I attacked her with a sure-fire bite as I watched her give my approval  
-And tell me... what do you know about the Colosseum? -She asked me.

HARRY

-A naumaquia! -commented Alastor as he jotted down figures on his tally sheets. -A naval battle for the secular games!   
That would really bring out the masses. Have you ever seen a naumaquia, boy? They flood the Colosseum with water pumped from the Tiber and put in boats loaded with gladiators. Can you swim?  
I drank every last drop of wine from my pitcher and answered:  
-"Yes.  
-Good, good. I've seen good gladiators fall into the water and drown. It would be a pity if it happened to you.  
I let out an obscenity and left.  
-You'd better train a little," Alastor's voice came to me in the corridor. -You're not so young anymore, you can't afford to be so lazy.  
In the new training yard which had been built with my prize winnings, I had four practice fights. I ended up exhausted and out of breath. It's true, I wasn't that young anymore. Thirty-three? Thirty-five? I was getting old. I was getting up tired, my bones were crushed, and it was hard to get out of bed. I was in my thirties, and I'd spent the last eight years in the sand. A long career. Three times longer than most gladiators. My bouts were booked months in advance. My (or rather Alastor's) fortunes were still growing. I was entertained and praised wherever I went. I dined in the mansions of the patricians. My name was permanently in the mouths of wrestlers and the public. They said I was the greatest gladiator Rome had ever known.  
Eight years, I thought, exhausted, eight years.  
-Another fight? -the coach asked me respectfully.  
-No.  
-You couldn't take one more fight, you soft savage," said a shrill voice behind my back. You're getting old, Barbarian.  
-I still have the strength to throw you out of the window, you skinny man.  
-Better to be a scrawny man than a cenutral," said Ron, making an obscene gesture to me.  
Cheeky, shaggy, and blue-eyed, Ron was barely fit to be a gladiator - perhaps for a tramp he might look too stout.  
I grabbed a towel and dried my forehead. Ron looked at me reproachfully and commented:  
-"You're having a hard time breathing!  
-Because I'm drunk.  
-You always are. You drink like a sponge. Here, have some more. It tastes like piss, but it goes to your head.  
We drank sour wine sharing a friendly silence. I leaned against the wall, with my eyes closed so I wouldn't be blinded by the sun. Ron wore an absurd sunshade over his head and sat on the edge of the wall with his feet loose. We were a strange couple, but we no longer attracted the glances of people, for everyone knew that the Barbarian and the nag were thick as thieves.  
-Hello, up there," Ron had introduced himself a year ago in his hoarse voice.- I'm new. You must be the steak.  
-What? -I said, without understanding.  
-The steak, the main course. I'm the starter.  
-Watch who you're calling a steak to, lanky. -They warned him from the next table.  
-But this mastodon is all meat! -said Ron.  
-You've got a big mouth," I mumbled.  
-I work in circuses and arenas and fairs,' he said.- The numbers are always the same, you make people laugh and try not to get your teeth knocked out. I'm good at the first, not so good at the second. Like you said, I have a big mouth. So if I'm going to get beaten up," he bowed to me, "let the best man do it.  
I smiled. Reluctantly, but a smile came over my face. I passed my jug of wine to the nag.  
-Do you want to get drunk?  
And we got drunk.  
Ron leaned out of his parasol and said:  
-What's this story about a sea battle? I suppose you'll play the mighty Neptune and I'll play you. Lately I'm always being asked to play you. Even though we have the same bitter look on our faces, I'm much better looking than you. Besides, my dick is much bigger than yours.  
-You? A rickety one?  
-The gods give us misleaders a few extra inches down here to make up for the muscle they take from us. Therefore, it's much more voluptuous   
I laughed and asked him:  
-So, if I'm going to be Neptune in the battle of the sea, what are you going to be?  
-A tadpole. And, my wild friend, tadpoles survive when all the other fish have been caught.  
-Whoa, whoa.  
-Maybe it's time you were caught, -he joked.- The masses are waiting for you. The only thing left to do is to die.  
-Aha.  
My cat jumped up and down, curled up at my feet, and nibbled at the laces of my sandals.  
-You useless bug! -said Ron, "Last night she killed my best gloves. Can I kick her?  
-The Ronald of Legend beat the animals?  
-I'm not that one, and thank goodness for that. He was a complete idiot. But it's a good stage name, isn't it? Hey, what was your name before you were Harry the Barbarian?  
-James. -I answered, smiling.  
-James?  
-Yes, James.  
-Harry sounds better,' said Ron.- James! Gods, that sounds bad.  
-I can hardly remember.  
-Well, better, James- said Ron, laughing, rushing the last drops of wine.   
-This wine is disgusting. Let's go to the Blue Mermaid and get drunk.  
-Maybe you'll find some whore who believes the story of the undernourished and the inches thick.  
-Do you want us to compare them, Barbarian? Draw your sword, and I'll draw mine...

BELLATRIX

What a bore!  
I didn't want to see the Barbarian play the star in the naumaquia, but the secular games were the event of the season, so there I went, wrapped in white silks, with a fabulous gold necklace carved from Egypt around my neck and a quartet of Mauritanian slaves on my back carrying a fan of peacock feathers. The day had dawned clear and hot, and the Colosseum was bursting at the seams. The mob was cheering the victorious legionnaires, scolding the Germanic prisoners, shouting enthusiastically as the white bulls were sacrificed to Jupiter and the black bulls to the gods of the underworld. The emperor, with his shiny new prefect of the praetorium on his right, received a standing ovation. Draco occupied a place of honour, to Tom's right, in the imperial box. I watched him carefully. It had been almost a year and a half since I last saw him. He had been busy in Germania, putting things right after the Regulus rebellion. More than a year, but I hadn't forgotten, judging by the torrent of letters he sent me, in which he showed himself from submissive to angry. I should also send some to Tom so he wouldn't forget me either. Today I was to watch the games from the Sulpicians' box (three or four members of that family had been my lovers), but for the next festival I would be sitting next to Draco in the imperial box.  
The cheers that greeted the emperor had been full of emotion. But nothing, nothing, matched the madness with which the masses received the Barbarian when he appeared in the galleys, offering them the bait they expected.  
-Sink it! Sink it! -cried the mob, and Harry pleased them.  
Four galleys started the naumathian, two with blue candles, from the Spartans, and two with red candles, from the attendants. One of the Athenian ships, with a red mast, began to burn. The barbarian emerged from the fire, watching his enemies below toil over buckets.  
-Look out! -cried Publius Sulpicius beside me, forgetting that I was there when the Athenian galley slid aside, but Harry regained his balance on the mast and came down the mast with the ropes twisted in one hand and the sword lent in the other.  
-That's how it's done!  
He was good, by the gods. Lately I had been going to the circus more than to the Coliseum, because I didn't like to see a man who had come out alive after shaving me.  
-I don't understand why you like it so much," I commented as the Barbarian plunged headlong into the artificial sea from the sinking ship  
No one paid any attention to me. And, anyway, I understood why they liked me so much. Harry emerged on the other side of the Athenian galley with his sword in his teeth, like a pirate. He grabbed hold of an oar and climbed on deck, spitting the sword into his hand and lunging forward. Long before his fellow gladiators paddled into his galley to share his glory, the Athenians were already running in frightened circles and their red ships were burning. I held my breath when Harry emerged from the massacre. He had an arrow in his shoulder and half his hair was burned, but with the bottom of burning ships and bodies piled up, he looked like the reincarnation of Mars on earth. Without turning around to look at his companions, he set out to finish off his victory. He plunged into the waters and resurfaced with energy, unbuckling his mesh sleeve and letting it sink. Then he wiped the ashes and blood from his face. Ignoring the screaming, wailing, and crackling of the burning wood, he lay on his back like a child splashing in a pool and floated, eyes closed under the blue sky.  
My eyes felt itchy and I realized that I felt like crying. My stomach got knotted up and my hands shook. The applause, the shouting, the shower of silver coins and rose petals lasted a full hour, while the Barbarian floated on in the midst of the naval battle, with his eyes closed, in peace. He was truly divine and desirable, wasn't he, Hermione? You, who hate glory and triumph, were unable to restrain yourself. Why not me? Someday, while you were dying with your guts hanging out, you would give me the answer.  
-The rudius," one of the Sulpicians' pages muttered.  
Suddenly the whole world was repeating that word over the steps of the Colosseum.  
-The rudius! They're going to give him the rudius... The emperor is going to give it to him.  
The barbarian opened one eye and shook his head to get the water out of his ears. He glanced sideways at the imperial box. The emperor had risen and was coming down the stairs.

TOM

I heard his sandals splash as a member of the Praetorian Guard accompanied him up the stairs. Some women came screaming to dip their handkerchiefs in the puddles he was leaving. I heard the word rudius everywhere. The wooden sword! The golden dream of gladiators  
-Bow to the emperor," the guard ordered, sticking the lance handle in his back.  
He bowed his head slightly before me, the strangest submission I had been offered.  
-So this is the barbarian," I said, and looked up and down at him.  
-Yes, Caesar.  
I frowned.  
-Lord and God," whispered the guard.  
-Lord and God," he repeated.  
-You have fought very well, Barbarian. I've been watching you for eight years... A long time. Why haven't you decided to hang up your sword yet?  
-I'm a slave, Lord and God.  
-They say that slaves are cowardly creatures.  
I raised my arm and snapped my fingers. A slave approached with a silver platter on which there was... I saw him tremble with his eyes fixed on the object, smiling contentedly.  
-A rudius," I said, as I felt the wooden sword. It may be for you, we shall see.  
I snapped my fingers again, and a little man advanced. A fringe of ringlets fell on his forehead and he was wearing the robe of a Greek freedman.  
-Remus," I said, "you who read the future like the rest of us mortals read the alphabet, what do the stars have in store for this man?  
A slow smile began to creep across my face.  
-Your palm, please.  
He studied the lines on his hand, recited a couple of mystical nonsense, feeling the calluses on his sword and the scars. Then he looked at the barbarian's face and commented:  
-How interesting.  
-Interesting? -I repeated, coming closer. What did you see?  
-I see... well, sir and God, it's a very strange hand. I see three deaths.  
-Three? -we exclaimed in unison.  
-Three. Very strange, indeed. Most people only die once. But this man will die once by fire, once by sword and once by old man.  
-Don't you see a rudius? -I asked silently at last, with my senses hidden behind my formal mask... I would gladly witness them all.   
-Well," said Remus, and gave the man a nervous look, "not really.  
For a moment I felt as if all the rose petals and coins were suspended in the air as well as all the surroundings...fate had always been my guide in everything...it was my only "duty" that should prevail...and with time devoted to it I could soon be mine too. It was the only thing in the world that contained absolute truth (not all of it, of course).  
-A pity," I said as I returned to my throne of gold. -I could have sworn he deserved it already. You may take the rudius, slave.  
The barbarian watched in perplexity as his freedom slipped away.  
-By fire, by sword, and by old man," I mused.- Interesting. It is a prophecy worth studying, is it not?  
For a moment our gazes remained fixed on each other, and there was a silent exchange of words.  
You'd like to kill me, wouldn't you,' I said.  
I'll rip your guts out.  
My faithful prefect Draco Malfoy looked at us both before saying:  
-Caesar.  
I waved my hand and said:  
-"Take the Barbarian back to his barracks and send the Imperial Physician to tend to his wounds. We will not deprive the gods of their first death. Death in the sand.

I pretended to sleep... but I didn't, something was there, lurking... I clenched my jaw. I put my hand under the pillow, squeezed and waited for it. A massive presence behind my back. In a deft turn I rose to my feet and swung a dagger in my hand, plunging it firmly into the steel neck, feeling the blood running down my arm. Looking with fury and triumph at the subject's green eyes.  
And then I woke up... I put my hand under the pillow looking for the intact dagger, I sighed.  
Fear... a worldly feeling; but promising. It had kept me alive over time.  
And something would always be lurking, persistent, a pain in the ass... the adrenaline in my back was as familiar as the whole palace and Rome in the palm of my hand.  
Running the Empire and the world could be considered easy up to a point; simple, stratagems, that was it. Your introduction was to learn the subsistence of the people and civilizations, and to move with them as you wished by means of stimuli. When there was a gap, that's when you resorted to violence... so: could anyone really blame us for enjoying it? You know, if you enjoy your craft it makes a lot of things easier, with pleasure you make your way and with it you make art.  
And the last point... fear was the greatest ruler ever... if I ever knew it all my life. Fear made the great deities and beasts kneel, and I had managed to handle it at my whim in every known corner, because thanks to it I could be sure that everything belonged to me. But then the barbarian invaded my mind again. I narrowed my eyes.  
In the following months there were combats that made my hair stand on end. The barbarian's performances had been organized long before and, after the beginning, he didn't do more than four fights a year. Now, however, all those rules had disappeared, and only one remained: I would fight whenever and however I wanted. Thus, he fought with his left arm tied behind his back; he fought on a bed of embers with only a pair of sandals so as not to be burned; he fought with his wounds still open, dizzy with pain; he faced, naked and unarmoured, a chariot full of archers; he fought armed only with a small knife against a lion with black manes, and on horseback against two wild bulls.  
And he survived.  
How many times did the crowd freeze, holding its breath in unison, before he appeared from under the body of a lion or an overturned chariot? How many times did his gaze cross mine in a duel that, time and again, ended in a stalemate?  
I lost count. I watched in irritation.  
Each trial and challenge that I won was more than enough to quench my thirst and at the same time I became addicted... to see the opponent tear apart, be it an animal or a man who was in front of him, sweating... spending his body with each combat, with each movement and strategy, with each thrust... with each breath. But he made me more and more angry as a price...he looked at me, each time, each victory...he looked at me in the eyes until the soldiers beat him and dragged him to the Gate of Life. Do you think your life depends on you?   
We'll see if it really is... I have my whole life to contemplate your three deaths, how you wither away in each one of them. As you feed more of my despair.

-Lord and God- -spoke to me slowly Draco- have already arrived from Cremona  
Because his hands were less sweaty than before, it was easy for me to see the nervousness and anguish in his body anyway.  
-Lord and God- the strong Bartemius intervened... his niece has died.

The Temple of Minerva; that as soon as the arrival of the retinue arrived the Palace entered its rooms... was penetrated without further ado by my frantic feet.  
I knocked down the funerary urn with one hand, with my mouth open in a drowned scream, falling on my knees to pick up the greasy ashes with frantic hands. Feeling my being filled with unbearable rage and pain.

HERMIONE

-Helena's dead? -Everything started to spin for me. -   
-That's what I heard," said Pospertina and wrinkled her nose. -She's taken the last boat.  
-But... What? -asked a chorus girl, "She was only twenty-five or twenty-six. She wasn't that old. What happened to her?  
Two laundresses and a musician from Corinth came to the atrium to listen.  
-Well," said Tina, "they say he died of a fever. But I have also heard that she killed himself by plunging a dagger into his stomach.  
-Yes, yes... She stuck a dagger in her stomach, but not with any intention of killing himself," whispered a washerwoman to the other. She would have some little problem in there, you know, and he tried to nip it in the bud.  
I heard a murmur of rumours among the slaves. I turned around and walked to the center of the atrium. The heavy winter rain was pouring down the roof gutters and collecting in the little blue slab pool. I rested my forehead on a marble column, inhaling the smell of fish and tar that the rain brought from the port. I had not yet met the emperor's niece, but once our eyes met on a bright morning in the temple of Juno, on her wedding day. As absurd as it may seem, what inspired me was pity, with her gown embroidered in gold, her veil of silk, and her arms wrapped in silver. But what surprised me most was that she turned her angular face and looked at me, and I could feel that she envied me. Me, a slave with unshapely skin and hair, wearing fans and scrubbing floors. She envied me. I thought disturbed.  
Well, everyone was talking about it, it was the morbid and tasteless talk. Even Brundisium was getting around. From the memory, pale and dry, hidden by the red veil, walking into his uncle's arms for the ritual of the bride's abduction. How the bridegroom had to strain with both arms to let her go.  
-So she died trying to have an abortion," they insisted again.- Whose child would it be? The emperor's?  
-Well," commented a musician with a strange gesture, "his own uncle's?  
-You shouldn't go around repeating those rumours," he was rebuked by the Pospertina, very seriously. The emperor is desolate, or so they say. But that doesn't mean you have to give credit to such rudeness.  
She withdrew very indignantly.  
The murmurs continued in a low voice.   
I could only remember that dark look so withered and unhappy. I could imagine, theoretically, how vast her world was... how small was the orizon of her knowledge and of the life situations she was catching up on. The princess had formed an ideology with that world... and in that world a slave had more privileges than she did.   
I sighed with a smile in spite of myself, she must have noticed me all, "Helena, I have been looking for freedom since I was born...and I am still trying to find out what it means.  
Suddenly, I felt a harsh cold sweat, I put my hand to my chest and tried to regulate my breathing...what if the rumors were true? what if the enraptured people were right? I felt another chill run down my spine... "then she must have been right"...a life without reason...without freedom literally...where the mind is not yours. I got up ceremoniously disguising my emotions on a daily basis, as much as I could. Tonight I would pray for Helena's soul.

HARRY

-You, the masses, the emperor... You have all made him immortal... A god among men. You are the only ones to blame. Then don't come crying to me when he's finished throwing his wrath at you. Ha! Tom is only a god because he calls himself that.  
-I'll have you flogged, skinny man," exclaimed Alastor, as he went off in his scented linen robe.

-You'll lose some mobility," said the doctor as he removed the bandages from my hand, "especially these two fingers. Too much strain over the years. How many times have you broken your fingers?  
-I don't remember," I answered as I tried to bend my hand.  
-What was it this time? -The hilt of the sword?  
-No, with a shield.  
-I pity you," said the doctor, "you'll have to rest for a few weeks, or they'll snap again like dry sticks.  
-It's all right," I said, bending the wounded hand into the healing one. I'm resting.  
-It's true. The emperor has postponed all the festivals and games, hasn't he?  
-Aha.  
-For his niece. She was in Cremona, you know. With the heat there, the funerals had to be done quickly. The emperor went ballistic when his niece returned to Rome in an urn.  
I blinked to put the image out of my mind.  
-Is it over? -It's over.  
-Yes, we're done. -I'm done. Well, I have to go. -The doctor was silent for a few moments and, blushing, added, "My wife is a fan of yours... Would it be possible...?  
-Talk to my lanista.  
Alastor charged enormous amounts for a wooden medallion with the portrait of my face on one side and a lock of my hair on the other. Of course, it wasn't my hair, but the barber's, a page's, or Ron's, dyed brown. "Anyone willing to pay money for a memory of you, son, deserves to be fleeced." For once I was in complete agreement.  
-She'll be thrilled," said the doctor enthusiastically. -Every time they call me to cure you, she goes crazy. She spends weeks talking about it. Well, let's get that hand back. You have to be in shape for the next games, when the emperor gets over that bad mood.  
I turned around when the doctor left, and I bent my fingers. No, they weren't like they used to be, I couldn't stretch them out at all. But I could still grasp the hilt of a sword, and that was what counted. I could hold one the next day, if I had to. I needed no rest to win.  
I don't need anything to win, you son of a bitch. It was not the doctor to whom that thought was directed.  
The memory of the emperor slipped through my mind again. His cold face during the last fight, when he ordered his guards to tie my left arm behind my back.  
"A challenge."  
Was there anything in Tom's eyes in those days? Something beyond the challenges he gave him? Something like... fear?  
-Fear? -Ron scoffed when I dared to tell him. -Why would the Emperor of Rome be afraid of you?  
-He's got it in for me," I said, shrugging my shoulders.  
-Ah, of course. He has millions of people to torment, and he spends all his time and energy torturing you. With age you're becoming vain, Barbarian.  
I figured the frecklehead was right. I didn't think the emperor would wake up at night dreaming about me, as I did. I had nightmares about Tom's pale, enigmatic face and his invisible challenges.  
But was that gesture of the emperor in my imagination every time I raised my arms in the sand next to the body of my last opponent and looked up at the imperial box?  
"Why are you still alive?" I imagined Tom saying.  
"Because you want me dead," I would answer.  
"What are you?"  
-Nobody," I said aloud. -I am nobody, sir and God.  
I gritted my teeth.

HERMIONE

-You're getting to the top, little girl," said Newt, back and forth across the atrium where I was sitting practicing a new tune on my liry.- The Emperor's Chamberlain has contacted me. You are going to sing at a banquet to be held in the palace in honour of Tom, which is why we travelled abruptly to Rome...away from my wife, I might care in this situation. Of course, you won't be alone. There will be fire-eaters from Crete, a speaker from Thebes and, of course, Lavender will perform.  
-If she's there, will anyone notice me?  
Lavender was a blonde dancer, Dougga's sensation, who charged high sums for her performances, and much more for other, more intimate favours.  
-They'll put you between the fish and the cheese," said New. -But whoever has a musical ear will know that they are listening to real music. What are you going to sing, little one? Eyes of Cythera seems a bit maudlin to me for the emperor. How about Goddess Justice?  
-Too intellectual, -I answered with a smile. -Its probably he bored of such "fancy" praying," -I laughed.  
-Don't start... -So something with a chorus, that they can sing together if they're drunk enough. -Little girl, it's a waste to sing for the military.- He came closer and I hugged him, resting my head on his shoulder, I sighed. I was infinitely grateful to either God or fate for having Newt...without him I would be dust. And now, he was claiming to leave me part of his inheritance when he died...he was giving me my freedom, I thought as I held him closer. Freedom... to have a will, to be someone else, to have a home... with my son. By God, I was living almost a fantasy, a marvel, my task was now being accomplished...Severus' temperament ironically brought him to me, little by little I was gaining his trust and sympathy; if things went his way I would tell him the truth soon.  
I let Newt select my music. By the time the day came, I had changed the entire list twice. Finally, Pospertina forced him to leave and let me get ready. For such a distinguished occasion, I dispensed with my typical black attire and chose a dress of Greek turquoise silk, the belt was made exclusively of glitter, the tunic had white flowers on the shoulders as they held it; the bodice was girded and, at the end of the belt, it cascaded to the ground at my feet. They made a bow for me with a tiara to match the belt, they adorned my head with a diadem made of fresh white flowers and the blush on my face was another story. When I had the chance to put my eyes in the mirror, my legs turned to jelly. It wasn't me, I thought at first... the real Persephone, the muse of Spring on one of her many days picking vegetation in the meadow... before she was taken by Hades. I shook my head, putting aside negative feelings and forebodings. Tonight I really had to focus, make Newt look good.  
I had been left alone... the candles had gone out, which made my reflection more dramatic as I did some finishing touches.  
The blushers and perfume bottles staggered dangerously on the table, I paused, turning to look at my eyes in the mirror knowing perfectly well that I was being watched  
-What are you doing here?  
-I come from the dog fights. -He came out reluctantly with a slightly rosy face because of the shame.  
-You seem to have misunderstood me this morning on the point of why these riots are irrelevant. -  
-Hmmm  
Severus dropped into a corner with indifference, making a thudding sound under his weight. I remembered, I had been in the Guard at noon.  
-Are you going to see the emperor? -he asked.  
-He will see me.  
Severus snorted with a smirk on his face.  
-Will you be back late? -he asked,  
-Not too late," I replied as I headed for him at last. You'd better be quiet and pretty at night... this place is not meant to hold you.  
-Why keep me? -He complained, "And why so much repugnance to games?  
-It's not repugnance, it's evaquity to things that have no transcendence  
-Trans -What? Damn, I forgot your riddles and weird words, haven't you wondered why you're so boring and archaic?  
I laughed-and what do you know about the whole world that's archaic, if you can't read or don't care to hear about history?  
He snorted as I watched him giggle  
-We're leaving now, Persephone, are you ready? - called me by a member of the choir.

A rented litter took me to the palace, where the emperor had arrived the day before. I had never sung in the palace before. I opened my eyes wide as I got off. But, as is often the case with myths, I was disappointed. The mosaics were neglected, the statues covered with dust, half the rooms were not lit. I followed the imperial butler, tripping over my own feet in the darkness. I was led into an anteroom separated from the banquet hall by curtains and made to wait. The fire-eaters were at work, throwing fiery sledgehammers from one hand to the other. Then the next course would be served.  
\- Dazzling lights, Persephone -Lavender, the dancer.  
Golden curls were falling down her shoulders, and her body was wrapped in gauze and sequins of clear ash.  
-Can I borrow your earrings? One has broken, and I cannot appear before the emperor with bare ears.  
But if you're half naked, what good are ears? I thought, but I gave her my gold earrings with a smile.   
Lavender and I often met at banquets and dinners, and I was not unpleasant  
-Don't forget them in some man's bed.  
-If I do, the emperor will buy me new ones," she said, smiling. My mistress has bribed the chamberlain to tell her a spicy, flamboyant story about me. He will call me after the banquet, you will see.  
-Sure," I answered.  
-Let's go and have a look," she said, and winked at me.  
When I peered through the curtain into the triclinium I thought I could not see well, for only a dark hole appeared before me. I blinked, and realized that everything was black: black marble walls, ebony cushions, dark-skinned African slaves in black robes carrying and bringing plates in a deadly silence.  
-What a joy! -I commented mockingly.  
The murmur of the conversations was faint, the lamps hardly lit, and even the shimmering silks and jewels of the guests seemed to adapt to the black sadness.  
-You, at least, will stand out more," said Lavender as she felt my turquoise dress. She stretched her neck across the folds of the curtain and asked, 'Is that the emperor? The one with the first cushion, the one with the breastplate.  
-No, that's Prefect Dumbledore.  
Draco looked healthy and fit, and he wore the ring and chain of his new office with ease. The power suited him a little better... physically. I never would have thought him for more than a simple boss because of his aura and character. Mind you, he hadn't shown up since he supposedly went to Germania and did his thing.  
-So the emperor is the one next to him? -The one in the black robe? -Lavender asked, fixing her curls.- I'll get him to lift his eyes from that wine glass.  
When it was herturn, he jumped into the triclinium like a phoenix rising from the blackness, bowing, wiggling and writhing. The emperor's eyes barely showed a hint of interest when, with a graceful pirouette, he fell to his knees before him, but nothing more.  
-You are next," said the butler.  
It was going to look like my chorus in front of me making the initial figure in the "atrium", and then "magically" materializing in the centre of the figure. The emperor did not even look up when I made my appearance with the lyre. Draco, however, offered me a friendly smile disguising his impulse to shout when he saw me in amazement. I remained stoic and indifferent to my surroundings and the attention I received, I was used to it, although it felt heavier now. Even the food was black: dark blue British oysters, black bread stuffed with olives, prunes served in onyx bowls.  
I received a brief applause and began the song.   
Newt had selected for me a famous and cheerful one... but as an artist my duty was to improvise according to the aura obtained, "Winds of Winter" was perfect, almost like a ring to the finger... and it was left with the melodious and nostalgic feeling for a real deceased. As I expected... the aura in moments began to change, and the atmosphere in the room was transformed into almost total passivity, until it took shape when my voice gave way, I had hundreds of eyes on it. Even Brundisium was hearing of increased raids on conspirators and frequent treason trials. Of course, any intelligent ruler in Rome feared being killed. Half the ten previous emperors had died in this way.  
The emperor looked rougher and more careless than when I first saw him at his niece's wedding. His cheekbones were sharper and his hair was in a more rebellious state, but his cheeks were still in that natural pale skin tone. His black robe was unadorned. As his only jewel, he wore the ring with the imperial seal. He had not touched his black plate, and his cup was almost full, not sure if it was the effect of the melody, but his eyes staring into nothingness shone insistently. He was not only an austere man, he was also a grim one. A comment from Draco did bring a smile to his face, however, and his smile had a certain charm.  
I finished the song and received considerably more enthusiastic applause than the previous ones, and even some rapt comments. I sharpened the lyre a little as I prepared to fade from the space as a senator hurried across the dark tables to the emperor while the senators continued to absorb my movements with their lecherous eyes.  
-Lord and God, there are many rumors coming from Judea. Are there more rebels in Jerusalem?  
-Easy to crush, if the rumours are true," answered the emperor, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. -The Jews are a people poor in spirit.  
I had heard worse things in my life, and I had cared for them as for a fly, but well was the saying made by philosophers: it was the feeling expressed that brought words to life, and this had been corrosive to unsuspected levels. I had already lived here much more than half my life... and had witnessed offenses to the extent of the culture Masada predicted.  
And I was blinded... my eyes inevitably scrutinized without any qualms or doubts the regal figure of the most powerful man in the world.  
The routine rehearsed on this occasion and on previous ones was to appear after the chorus and to retire after it... but apparently that faded from my "brain" as a wise man called it in a scripture. It was then that the emperor looked back at me for the first time...his eyes were some of the darkest things I had ever seen, reminiscent of deep underground wells or cavities...which guaranteed you the attention of a fierce being on the other side of these  
The chorus, probably confused, set out to make its retreat despite the routine. And the more everyday noise punctured my trance, blinking imperceptibly...   
God, what the hell was I doing, these impulses if they were reckless, at least they didn't reach that level of risk. I shook my side, bowed, and set out to look away from the man and turn around.  
-Singing! - His voice was not long in coming.  
-Yes, sir and God? -I said, eloquent.  
\- They usually address me in response  
-I turned in a graceful theatrical movement and then went into an exaggerated gesture  
-Yes, sir and God? -The murmurs came again. Somewhat heated, with some where laughter seemed to arise... but immediately they were extinguished.  
-Your name? -After a pause he spoke again in a condescending tone.  
-Persephone, Caesar.  
He looked at me for a long time, firmly, as powerful men do with slaves. He spent so long looking at me that those present could no longer hold their breath, while he continued to sweep me up and down.  
I wondered if he had just signed my death warrant.  
-Come closer," he said, holding out his hand.  
I came closer.  
-Sit down.  
I sat down on the cushion of honor, next to him. The murmurs turned into whispers.  
-Speak.  
I spoke.  
-You sing well.  
-Thank you, Caesar.  
-I'm not praising you, but the voice the gods put down your throat, Persephone. -I bowed my head slightly and snorted as softly as I could at the fun I felt.-By the way, why does a Jew carry a Greek name?  
-My owner thought I was doing well. An exotic, divine name.  
-Well, yes, like you.   
-Thank you.  
-I don't like Jews... My brother Gellert does. He had a Jewish lover, Queen Bernice of Judea.  
-I know the story. "Gellert the White and the Jewish Whore." Or, as the Jews say, "Queen Bernice and her foreign slave and lover." They always reproached him for that relationship.  
-Did the Jews reproach him for sleeping with Gellert?   
-Of course. After all, we are the chosen people, and Gellert was only an emperor.  
-He was always known as "The Golden".  
-Are you jealous of him?  
-You assume too much. Wine? -He said, while offering me his own drink.   
-Thank you, Caesar...  
At midnight, the guests looked at us without hesitation. The emperor had not spoken to anyone for an hour, except to me. His voice was anodyne and unfathomable. Mine, on the other hand, sounded fresh. I was not aware of what I was saying to him, I was already somewhat uneasy...sometimes I had the impression that my rejection was evident, but it was not taken into account at all, well, that did not surprise me. Above the conversation, our eyes met, without blinking.  
-The Greek Minerva. Minerva is the goddess of my home.  
-The goddess of wisdom? An intelligent choice. War is always present in the life of an emperor, but wisdom is harder to find, Caesar.  
-You should address me as "lord and god".  
-Everyone calls you that?   
-My relatives and trusted people do not, for they are the exception. Not you.  
-I'll call you "lord and god" if you wish. But don't you think it slows down the conversation?  
-An emperor is never in a hurry.  
-As you wish, sir and God.  
-Are you making fun of me?  
-Oh, no, sir and God.  
-I will not tolerate a Jewish slave girl laughing at me. I allow you to address me as "Caesar". Can you do it without giggling?  
-Yes, Caesar.

Two o'clock in the morning. A group of exhausted jugglers came out again to entertain us. The slaves rushed out with a makeshift dish: little cakes covered with brown sugar. In the anteroom, hidden behind a column, I saw the slaves looking tired. The guests stirred, uncomfortable, not knowing if they should interrupt us or not. I only knew that deep down I longed for them to do so.  
-In my town, black is a sign of mourning for a loved one. -I shamelessly let go of the decoration of the room, touching the sensitive fibers as far as the Jews and poor Helena were concerned.  
-Its function is to frighten my guests, - he said after thrusting his daggers deep into my side. I had my casual calm demeanour in profile which I carried with ease, but I would never admit to myself that this time I was not willing to look at him again.  
-Do you want to scare them?  
-It's practical. I judge people by how they behave when they're scared.  
-But everyone is afraid of an emperor.  
-You don't.  
-Then I've passed your test?   
-For the moment, yes. Should I reward you?  
-My friend Lavender would advise me to ask her for jewellery.  
-I don't give jewelry to women.  
-I don't want it either.  
-Then what do you want?  
-Strings for my lyre. Imported, made from Crete bull's entrails. They're the best.  
-Tomorrow you'll get them.   
-Thank you, César.   
-It's the first time a woman's asked me for bull's entrails.  
-Well, at least it's original.  
Four o'clock in the morning. The banquet should have been over long ago. Everyone was yawning and dozing on the cushions. The slaves were leaning their backs against the wall, trying to keep their eyes open. The musicians played parsimoniously songs that had already been played at the beginning of the evening. In the anteroom, behind the black curtains, more people were gathering. I noticed that Newt had arrived, accompanied by a worried Pospertina. But no one dared to leave.  
-Your performance was winding, intense, quite in keeping with the death of my niece Helena, you even seemed to feel the pain.  
-I was deeply impressed by it. -I answered firmly  
-Don't give me any platitudes.  
-The origin of where clichés come from can sometimes be confused.  
He burst out laughing  
-Are you accusing me, Persephone?  
-Who would be capable of such audacity?  
-The origin of the accusations can be confused. Only in the case of my niece you have no right to doubt. Where did you meet her?  
-At her wedding. Well, it was a very brief marriage.  
-It was very... she had a lovely smile. When she smiled, which didn't happen very often. She shouldn't have died. My astrologer, Remus, predicted that she wouldn't die so young. He had never failed me before.  
-I heard that he wanted to enter the vestals.  
-Damn those dried-up old priestesses! She would have been ruined by them.  
-Hmm.  
-It was... a great comfort to me. Now everyone is trying to introduce me to women like her, as if Helena had been my lover. Stupid perverts.  
-People like gossip, Caesar. What's the point of having an emperor if you can't make up indecent rumours about him?  
-Hasn't any owner ever sold you out for impertinence?  
-No. I'm usually quicker and I run away.  
-The Fortune goddess is the one who supports you then... but that can change shortly if you fall into the will of another god," he hissed bitingly, but with a spark of interest in his gaze, he paused and his expression softened and leaned his weight across the cushion where he stood.-If someone dares to dishonor my niece's memory, I will hang it.  
-Then you will have to execute a lot of poor gossips.  
-Traitors.  
-Perhaps, in the end, harmless.- I shrugged my shoulders and softened my posture.  
-Have I passed your test? -He looked at me with amused interest  
-Maybe. But it doesn't help you if you approve of Caesar or not, does it?  
-Correct.  
It's dawn. Most of the guests were sleeping in their triclins. The others, their eyes glazed and shrunken, were chopping up dried oysters in sour sauces. A black-robed pageboy dozed on his feet, his head resting on an amphora of wine. My rigid posture was perhaps more numb than I thought. I clenched my fists alertly at the moment I least expected.  
The emperor rose and his guests awoke, startled. As soon as he looked away from me flagrantly, I was able to exalt myself normally and smooth my skirts.  
-A lovely evening," said Tom, indifferent to the guests.  
He glanced at me furtively, and went away.  
All eyes then turned to where I was, wondering what the emperor might have seen in me. Surely they thought it was not strange that the emperor should have noticed the striking singer; what was strange was that he had called me just to talk. It wasn't like Tom not to entertain important guests for a chat with a slave. In fact, he was not in the habit of talking for so long with a woman. Apart from for bed, he didn't find much use for women, it was common knowledge.  
I was deeply exhausted, I was realizing it, I just wanted to run into Newt's arms, and suddenly I found a crowd surrounding me with sleepy but curious eyes. "Friend Persephone..." "A wonderful performance!" "You're the best artist in town."  
-That's enough! -exclaimed Newt, making his way towards me. -It's been a long night. Home now, little one.  
A hand with its nails cut tightly tapped me on the shoulder and I turned. A freedman with the official purple badge said in a very polite tone:  
-Lady Persephone?  
The room was silent. I turned to Newt in fright.  
The freedman approached me and whispered something in my ear. I nodded. He made a very long bow, one of those reserved for emperors, or those closest to them.

-A month has gone by and he can't seem to get enough of her," whispered a slave outside my room.  
She had just gone out with a pile of dresses and passed two other washerwomen. At once, they stopped to gossip. For the last month, at Praetor Newt's house, all they talked about was me.  
-They told me that he slept with a courtesan of the Jante family," said a slave.  
-Yes, and that he sent her back home after an hour. But with Persephone he spends the whole night.  
-It is true that she is very beautiful, but it is not as if those courtesans are not. What could she have that she does not tire of her?  
I didn't know either. But what people overlooked was that Tom did not summon me even for carnal pleasure, but to watch me for a long time and talk, often in a sharp manner. He made me come to him at least five times a week. I would spend the night with him being evaluated and watched, and he would send me on a litter back to Newt's house at dawn, shuffling his feet in yawning.  
-Shhh! She's going to hear us, - warned the laundress.  
-I don't think so, she's spent many hours awake doing God knows what, so she'll sleep until noon.  
In fact, I was sitting on my bed, my hair down the back of the wide Greek chiton I was putting me to sleep, biting into a style as I tried to write a song. Tom didn't miss an opportunity to criticize any grammatical or prayer errors. "Someday you could write something worthwhile," he said.  
-Do you know they only talk? -Do you think he gives advice, like the voice behind the throne or something?  
I smiled silently. I have no influence on Tom, he'd made it clear to me. "Don't even think of meddling in the affairs of the Empire,' he said to me seriously the first night I spent in the palace. I never ask my women for advice. It's a rule I always keep, just as I don't anger the gods and don't bet on gladiators." Of course... that was more of a euphemism coming from me, I thought burlesque. To know (from Tom's perspective) how much he had been unwillingly influenced by me.  
Again the slave spoke:  
-Do you think he'll get tired of her soon?  
Even if it did, my future was assured. . From now on many men in Brundisium and on the continent would be eager to hear that voice that had fascinated the master of the world. Everywhere I went I was greeted and congratulated. Only Newt showed his concern.  
-I hate to tell you this, little girl," he said in a hurry.- You're a singer, an artist. Not a lady's companion.  
-The emperor knows that. He's given me enough lyre strings to keep me playing until I'm 50.  
-Don't make fun, little girl. You know what I mean.  
I smiled with a touch of insolence that I had learned from my son. I couldn't help it. Newt sighed and added:  
-Well, I hope you know what you're doing. You're missing quite a few appointments. Centurion Denso and Cornelia Prima asked me to sing at their daughter's wedding, and they have always been our best patrons.  
-Tell them to wait for their answer- -I had to start planning strategy and moves in this heavy environment  
The truth is that I agreed with Newt, he was worried about me, and I too, in a sense, had to be careful and alert to any movement by my imperial suitor ... just as he was with me.  
The melody I was trying to compose took shape in my head and I wrote it down in style. It was quite good. It would match the text of an ancient Greek poem I knew. Maybe I'd get some reluctant word out of the emperor's praise, something like "Not bad, but not good either".  
-Persephone! -shouted Pospertina, and entered my room.  
Her short-haired black head shook with rage.  
-The little beast is beating Chloe's son again.  
When I went down the hall in my nightgown, Severus' screams could be heard from all over the house.  
Severus and Chloe's son were rolling around on the floor of the atrium.  
-It's not cheap! -It's very expensive! Better than your sister, who gets fucked for free.  
They fell into the pool in the atrium. Severus stood, spitting water and swearing oaths. I watched him from above, by the time he realized my presence he was back in the water. I nodded to him in the corner and went there to wait.  
-You can't go on making these fights. What did Chloe's son tell you?  
-That you were the emperor's whore.  
-Well,-I answered coldly- -Everyone believes that.  
-Yes, but he said you weren't a good singer, that you'd do anything for money. He said...  
-You won't improve my reputation with silly scenes, come on.  
I led him to the entrance of my room, near the fountain.  
-Besides, those people's rumors will be the only ones, I can practically live on my own with my earnings... even keep someone else- -I said softly  
-I imagine," he snorted, "I know that guy's got you pretty worked up, he's very pompous and kind of cute," he said, "but gladiators are better. If I were older, I'd make you feel more like a woman and less like a doll. To the gross, you live more intense  
I was stiff, judging by my early body size I could assume I had the exact color of a tomato...but I responded quickly.  
-And you're still in that gladiator mood  
-If you take it as such, it's a decision, and it's a fact, and neither you nor anyone else can stop me  
-Death by stepping on the sand, yes  
-You wish that would happen, but I'm stronger than you think, if I wanted to I would break you in two, I don't believe in anything, only in me, so no one can command my destiny but me  
-Fate handles you more than you think- -I clenched my jaw   
-I'll be the most famous galloper, no matter who it is.   
-Haven't you ever been taught what logic is? Brat?  
-I'm not in the mood for riddles or fancy words, I don't need them, perhaps I would have accepted other more useful sermons from my mother in the tavern.  
-I'm your mother, stupid," I exploded, pushing him back as I stood up, "he fell dazed.  
-What...?  
-I sent you to the Praetorian Guard to make amends for your origin... Do you think you materialized out of nothing? Are you stupid? And now, you want to go back to the mud after all my mental and physical wear and tear you've caused since you were born  
He looked at me sideways, and then shook himself. Can you go that far to say that you are my mother just to keep on nagging me?  
-There's no room for you to be stupid on either side. So I didn't mother a stupid child, is that clear?  
Severus looked at me like a cat that had just been given a sape, examining me while probably evaluating my words, looking at every faction of my face, as if checking to see if my words were true to his amazement while maintaining his comfort zone posture.  
I turned around and prepared to go back to my room  
-Who is my father? -He asked coming out of his daze... oh, if I told him now he would be lost  
-All you need to know is that he's been the only one in my life... no one else- -I assured him

Soon the words I said to my son stopped making sense...  
One afternoon, after the routine with the lyre and scathing comments to each other, he looked at me as usual, as if I were an intruder... and then he softened his scrutiny, as if he finally identified that I was not a threat, he gave way to lust approaching me... could she really overlook it this time?  
It had been so long already...  
in recent times I could hardly remember how he felt. The times I did it with him were basic, primitive and simple, although I was not enthusiastic, I did make him receptive. The best thing was to bore him soon.  
It was too late. The lamps were burning in weak light, forming shadows in the imperial bedroom. An austere room, a reflection of Tom's tastes, with no silks hanging on the wall, no velvet cushions on the bed, no jewels embedded in the little statue of Minerva in the corner.  
I took the nightgown and put it on over my head, not coming out from under the blankets until I was dressed. We hadn't done it there, but in the room at the desk, in the middle of pushing, I had coped with my arms back and my head bowed. It was already early in the morning when he went to his bed... I had been sleeping there longer than I had waited until I got home (of course, it wasn't very easy to do that).  
He was busy with his file of documents. The light was shining on his vast crow's hair. I discovered that it actually had some bluish tones. He was glancing at a scroll with a serious look on his face, but with an absent minded gesture. Tonight he was accessible.  
-Planning for the port? Or for a new bow?  
Wherever Tom was going, he was building something: harbours, arches, roads, aqueducts, temples... All built for the greater glory of the Slytherin dynasty.  
-The harbour.  
-It's going too slowly, isn't it? -  
-The engineers say they'll need another year. I calculated three.  
-I'd say four better. There's a good chance there'll be another flood.  
-Do you know more about ports than I do? -  
-No, but I've been living in Brundisium for a long time.  
-I never ask a woman for advice.  
I shrugged my shoulders, ready to wait in silence, but after a few moments he motioned for me to continue speaking.  
-I don't quite know what you want me to talk about, Caesar. Why don't you tell me something? Your exciting victory over the Germans at Tapae, for example.  
-I don't like to tell stories.  
-It's funny. Almost every man I've met loves to bore me with his adventures.  
As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I was aware of my mistake. He didn't like me reminding him of the other men he'd entertained in the past."  
His black eyes scrutinized me, as if my skull were made of glass and I could see through it my deepest fears. A fly fluttered among us and, with a quick movement of his wrist, caught it with the tip of his style. He never missed. Courtiers used to gamble with laughter to see how many flies he could kill on summer afternoons... But those jokes were not without fear. Maybe because he was the emperor, or maybe there was something else. I never felt entirely comfortable with him, despite my ease in speaking.   
And obviously I hadn't told her that I had a first-born, as other married lovers would do on a daily basis.  
-I have been informed by both my right hand and senators and tribunes of your long history of swindling; now that you mention it  
-Tell me: is it really considered a scam when you never really heard any "treaty"? And they never heard from my lips a demand for all that they have given me; in fact, that is why they are called "gifts.  
-So, Persephone, what are you doing in this room? If you never heard or read a demand from me, it was clearly an invitation.  
It was true, I had gone over them again and again with Newt, we both didn't know if it was wise to go our way casually...perhaps I accepted out of caution and intimidation.  
Every morning I had a handful of interested people who wanted to talk to me: senators who came to talk to me about provincial governments and positions for their sons, poets who wrote me verses hoping I would recommend them, old soldiers who wanted a position in the imperial guard... Even young men so stupid as to think they could steal the emperor's mistress. To be the centre of all this attention might seem exciting on the outside, but deep down it was boring and otherwise annoying and tiresome, all the lecherous eyes and animal attitudes had increased by a thousand.  
-Don't worry,' said Tom, as if he had read my mind. -As soon as I get tired of you, all those pests will go away. I suppose you'll miss them that day.  
-I don't think so.  
-I used to think very highly of honesty in women, but I am beginning to reconsider that concept.  
-Can I be excused, Caesar?  
-No," he said, and caressed my forehead, my nose and my lips with the tip of his style. -Come here.  
As a lover, he was plain and simple too. Until now, he had not asked me for anything strange. In fact, his only demand was that I refrain from faking orgasms, for he disliked me. His body was heavy, but agile. He had a light bush of hair from his navel down. In his forties, he retained all his manhood. I had to admit that I didn't find it a traumatic event... but that didn't take away from the fact that he made my hair stand on end with his attention, the best thing was that he evaporated soon.  
When it was over, I put on my nightgown and said:  
-It's almost daylight. I must go.  
Leaning on the pillow, with an indecipherable look, he answered me:  
-"You should.  
As a good singer, I knew how to read my audience. As a good apprentice since my birth, I also knew how to read men. But when I looked at Tom I had no idea what he was thinking. I had seen him signing death sentences quite naturally, I had heard his laughter at an unexpected joke, I had looked closely into his black eyes...but I didn't know him. And that scared and exasperated me, I always had absolute control in general over that.  
I tied up my sandals, picked up my lyre and went out into the hall. Behind me, the light from the lamp outlined the emperor's sharp nose and narrowed eyelids, which hid his sharp snake eyes. The "poison session" as he used to call it when he was in a good mood was over and he was already busy with his scrolls.  
The next day, after having the affirmative that they were really invitations, I turned down the next appointment of the week to attend my presentation with Denso and Cornelia Purnia, sucking in the smell of the daily earnings I was making on my own.

Usually, the emperor did not make me come to his presence in the mornings, but when the palace freedman knocked at my door after breakfast I had no time to argue or even talk, two soldiers of the praetor appeared ready to escort me by imperial orders, I peacefully excused myself with Newt and Tina to reassure them and left on my own. To my surprise, I was not led to the bedroom, but to the tablinum, where I found my lover half hidden behind a mountain of papers.  
-Come in," he ordered, stamping his ring on a document. Close the door.  
The meeting, during which I got the first surprise of the day, was brief and formal. A little smile was drawn on the freedman's face as he led me out. I assumed that soon the whole city would be whispering that the emperor had finally sent his concubine away. What could one expect from a Jewish singer? I covered my hair with a veil and crossed the palace atrium, making my way through a mob of slaves and upstarts. Then I came across the second surprise of the day, which was wearing a jade-green stola and smelled of musk.  
-Look where you're going! -she exclaimed, and pushed me away.  
-Mrs. Bellatrix? -I asked.  
-Yes. What do you want?  
She turned and looked me in the face for the first time. I removed the veil from my face and her skin turned red. I felt pleasure running down my spine, tickling me, for that morning I had put on my new amber silk dress with diamonds and gold embroidery at the hem.  
-Hermione?!  
Her eyes were fixed on the amber beads around my neck, on the topazes that hung from my ears, on the gold inlaid pin that held my hair.  
-What are you doing here?  
I could feel your brain spinning, as fast as the carriage wheels in the circus.  
-Spending the day- I answered, with morbid desiteracy and gestures with shining sparkles because of my jewels. -And you, what are you doing in the Palace?  
-Visiting my stepson, who has just returned from Germania... But that's none of your business.  
-Well, Draco isn't here right now, -I said. I nodded my head a little, actually neither he nor I had seen each other since, but it wasn't like I didn't know about his routine by now. -He must be busy at Praetorian Guard headquarters. Why don't you come back tomorrow?  
-How do you know? And... what are you doing in the palace, Hermione? -Bellatrix asked me, angry and trying to control herself. I ran my tongue gently over my peach lips. -Prefect Dumbledore is a personal friend of the Emperor, and if he finds out how you have spoken to me...  
Indeed, he is a very close friend already...you should not be so confident with royal possessions that do not concern you, he is quite bold, if he sees you, he can easily spread the word to him.  
Now I could enjoy it like she had no idea, I have the power to look at she for what it was: a primitive cockroach that lived on basic stimuli.  
I could let her know how inferior she really was...at last my great amnitions of revenge were fulfilled.  
-Didn't you come here with the intention of seeing Tom? He's very busy with the harbour plans. The obligations of his office are endless.  
I watched her begin to tremble, but the funniest thing was to be able to visualize how the gears of her brain worked so hard that I understood everything  
-You...you-her face was red like I'd never seen it before even when I was steam-cleaning it...it was stimulating.  
I advanced my feet wrapped in sandals with golden straps, ready to leave, but she grabbed my arm and stuck her sharp nails in.  
-But what are you saying? You don't know the emperor!  
-Oh, my dear, I was so worthless to you that you never remembered the few words of advice I gave you, and my smile was like that of a wolf, I bet. You know: if your enemies have lost the battle, it is better to make sure that you have nipped them in the bud. I gave a casual gesture - I already expected you to start crawling in front of the emperor, I do remember our conversations.  
Her face turned green. I had never seen anything like it, so I watched her with interest. She became like a moldy cheese. Bella opened her mouth, closed it and opened it again, but I cut it by throwing my last dart, the sharpest one. Everyone in the atrium was already looking at us.  
-But don't be sad, my cocoon, when the emperor retires to his villa in Tivoli this summer, he'll take me with him, and by then there's a chance that I'll be free of my post... Oh! if I have offered you everything in my service, why not give you my lover?  
The final thrust of the steel into the heart of her pride, now shattered.  
After taking my time contemplating her as I always wanted to, I spat imperceptibly in her face to withdraw elegantly from that room  
My rhythm was slow and gentle, enjoying the breeze, I had just had a metaphorical orgasm. But, as I left the palace and immersed myself in the streets, the joy gave way to surprise. The emperor was going to take me to Tivoli, where he was taking no one.  
Why did he do that?  
-Is it time to get rid of me? -I asked him, concisely, making my way through the usual hustle and bustle of slaves, pages, and secretaries in his tablinum.   
-No, not yet," he replied absently, sealing a scroll and handing it to a slave. -I'm going to take you to Tivoli to spend the summer with me. We leave in five days.  
-Is that an invitation?  
I looked at him carefully without any impudence, with the alert cat-eye I learned from Severus. He looked at me somewhat irritated, but he stood up from his desk, came up to me with one of his rare and charming smiles, and said:  
-"No, Persephone, you know I don't like to joke.  
He took me by the hand, surprising me again. I controlled the urge to push her away. He took my fingers to his lips as if to kiss me, but instead he bent down and bit my palm.  
-,"Don't pack too much, you're going to come," and without wasting a moment he continued to dictate a letter to a secretary who looked at me in amazement as he left the room after having had the altercation with that victim of mine.  
I put those images out of my mind and contemplated the pink bite marks, in the shape of a half moon, barely visible in the sunlight. I smiled triumphantly and feline, my next move in the game would be trained, I almost assured. Well, better to get home as soon as possible. If I was leaving for Tivoli in five days, I had a lot of things to prepare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it.  
And tie, if this one was intense, the next one will be twice as intense  
I'm open to any constructive criticism


	7. VII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, a big apology for all this time away, I wouldn't have anything definite to explain. But don't worry, I plan to finish this project no matter what the circumstances are!  
This very long chapter is a bomb of emotion, a knot in the stomach, I can assure you.  
One thing: there has already been sexual content, but I have been trained in the subject:V there will be rape, explicit for sensitive people, you know, don't read or skip those parts.  
Pd. I don't want to scare you but someone dies in this chapter :)

DRACO

-Why is it that an officer with so many powers as Dumbledore, the praetorian prefect, is in charge of accompanying me? -said Persephone. I hope it's not because you've been demoted.  
-I think I am the only person the emperor trusts to get you there without trying to seduce you.  
With a dark-blue stola and lapis lazuli combs in her coppery hair, lying on an imperial litter of plum-coloured silk curtains worn by six imperturbable Nubians, Persephone had all the appearance of an imperial lady. For a moment, I felt the nostalgia of remembering my time as her suitor. Of course, I couldn't say for sure if I got anything real out of it... Although Tom didn't know that. I put that idea out of my mind, bringing my horse up to bunk level. The road had been cleared before it passed and the dew was still wetting the plants. My praetorian cohorts chatted amicably behind him, spears on their shoulders and swearing oaths in the mud at his feet, glad of that pleasant ride on a clear morning.  
-Given some circumstances and experiences, call me Hermione," she said, wiping the dust from her face. After all, it is my real name.  
-I didn't know it," I admitted in surprise.  
-Of course not. You men don't talk to your fighters, only to your friends....if you give me the honour, of course.  
-So the emperor doesn't talk to you?  
-Well, yes, -she said thoughtfully. But he's different, isn't he?  
-Right -I agreed.  
-And he holds you in the highest esteem, he said, resting his elbow on the silk cushions. You haven't had much rest in Dacia these years, have you?  
I shrugged my shoulders, feeling the red feathers on my helmet move.  
-I'm just his lieutenant.  
She smiled and her lapis lazuli earrings danced around her neck.  
-He's asking too much of you, isn't he?  
-Yes," I replied, "very serious, but at ease. Trust me.  
-I suppose so. They say that emperors have no friends, but with you he makes an exception.  
-No," I replied, looking down at my horse's painted neck, "you can't be friends with a man like that.  
-Why? -I don't know. -she asked curiously... at least I thought so.  
-Because he's... -I looked for the right words-. If you could see him at the front, you'd understand. He's not like those generals who play heroes but never get close enough to smell danger. He's always in the gap. The legionnaires would do anything for him, because he's one of them, just another soldier.  
-They say he's a god," she said, and cocked his head.  
-Maybe. If there is a god in this world, it has to be him," I said, looking sideways at her. What do you think?  
-Well, I'm a Jew,' she answered, fanning herself. -We only believe in one God. Anyway, it's strange to be so close to one, like Leda or Europe.  
-I... well, it may be none of my business, but... - I grieved and looked down at my horse's mane.  
-Draco," he said in an amusing voice, "I would never tell a secret of trust, I assure you that it would take away my sleep to tell it too.  
-Well, that's not what I was thinking. -Although there was no doubt that it was a great relief. - It was about the rumors that were circulating about him. Don't believe everything that's said.  
-I do.  
-About his niece, I confessed, those unpleasant gossips... He laughs with derision and says that rumors survive no matter how many people you execute. But one shouldn't say such things about an emperor. Just because he was fond of her...  
-Did you know Helena?  
-Only as a child. When I was made prefect, she lived in Cremona because of her delicate health. She was crazy, you know. I saw the reports of my predecessor in office, who collected data on all the members of the palace. She wandered the corridors saying nonsense, refused to eat, crawled to Vesta's temple and tried to sleep under the altar. Even as a child she was a bit strange. She was always frightened by things that only existed in her head. It was not normal, although I never told the emperor. I couldn't bear to hear her speak ill of her. Since she had no children, he adopted her as his own daughter.  
-But she died of an abortion, didn't she? -Yes.  
-No," I replied, recalling the confidential report I had read, written by a doctor in Cremona who had later disappeared without a trace, fearing for his life. She committed suicide. She stabbed herself in the stomach with a knife, and although she survived the infection killed her. People began to say that she had died trying to have an abortion. My father was there and tried to get the truth out, but no one listens to the truth when the lies are more interesting. -Then there was a long, uncomfortable silence. Persephone lay down on the cushions, drawing the silk curtains to cover her face from the sun.  
-I saw your stepmother a few days ago in the palace.  
Trying to find a more pleasant topic of conversation, she had found a worse one.  
-Bellatrix?  
-Yes. -She told me she'd come to see you.  
-Well, she didn't, -I said, I bent down to wipe a piece of mud from my boot. It's... We don't get on very well. We see each other sometimes, but...  
Again, I'm speechless.  
-You'd rather get along with a snake than Bellatrix Lestrange," she said in a friendly tone.  
We drove another couple of miles in silence. Hermione kept fanning herself.  
-Perséfone... Hermione,' I said, I felt as if I were choking on words. -Did you ever... This... Have you ever loved someone like the water in the desert, even knowing all their faults, without caring...?  
I saw a torrent of simultaneous emotions in her eyes...something that would have been most fascinating to her if it had not been for the short time that it lasted before the unbroken frost returned-Yes," she answered, "I have loved someone like that.  
-How long did it take you to forget?  
She shook her head slowly and stopped the fan.  
And arched one eyebrow.  
-What?  
-I see," she smiled wryly, "but there are things, one is definitely to blame, don't compare any feelings, dear Dumbledore," after giving her a very sophisticated and inconspicuous sneer, she turned her attention to the orizon.  
-Well, that's not the case with me.,. It's a friend. Barty, his name is.  
-Of course, of course.  
She found it more comfortable to ride in front of the bunk, well, it seems she'd lost the chance of her friendship too.

HERMIONE

Knowing Tom's taste for the simple life, I was surprised by the beauty of his village of Tivoli. It was a jewel of white marble: colonnade walks, terraced gardens, lilac urns, still water pools, complex mosaics and silver nymphs in niches. A luxurious and secluded retreat, a couple of miles from the charming town of Tivoli. A place designed for a man with no private life to be alone. Tom had arrived a day earlier and for the first time he welcomed me without being surrounded by a crowd of courtiers and secretaries. Except for a handful of silent slaves, the Emperor of Rome and I were alone. Strange.  
-We will dine on the terrace, -he ordered me. -In one hour.  
I arranged myself without much care in a pink marble room that in the past must have belonged to Helena. I chose a white dress with a sash of the same colour under the breast. I left my hair down with a simple tiara and didn't wear much jewelry, just Newt's copper ring on one hand and a huge pearl on the other. How nice to be able to take a break from my careful make-up sessions in the dressing rooms. I put aside the jars of blush and the nail polish and went out to the terrace barefoot. There were two silver armchairs in the shade of a willow tree, enlivened by the music of the river below.  
I saw the immense balcony in the background then... it was supernatural. I just walked up to the last point where my feet touched the ground. There was a thin red streak in the sky, the only thing left of the sunset, and the moon was peeping out on the roof of the village. I looked down beyond my bare feet. The terrace had no railing, only a marble step and then a fall of about fifty feet into the gentle river. It was so mythical that it was laughable, one of the few times I mixed comedy and divine admiration in my life, the wind was blowing and pushing my clothes and being in a sinuous way... until I felt it turn dramatically towards a single point, which I had in my sights and with it trying to take me with it. I took a deep breath as my eyes were still fixed on the sunset, although the atmosphere ceased to be tense.  
-Dangerous," said the voice behind me which made me understand the sudden uneasiness, "isn't it?  
-Yes," I answered, and turned to look at him, "it seems so.  
He held my gaze for a few moments, and then came closer and crossed the terrace until he reached behind me, his colourful robe crackling.  
-In the mornings, the mist rises from the river in the form of a cloud, like Jupiter when he appeared to Danae. It is quite beautiful.  
He stroked my hair with his fingers.  
-You look like a vestal virgin," she said, looking at my white dress.  
-No, just a girl on vacation.  
We went up to the beds and I sat on my feet. I watched the dishes that were bringing me a silent stream of slaves: ostrich eggs, flamingo tongues, rosemary deer, hazelnuts with sugar, cakes filled with cream, old red wine served in a jar decorated with jewels? A change from Tom's usual dinners, consisting of beef, bread and beer. I noticed that there were other changes too: silk cushions, when he hated that fabric, silver plates instead of the clay dishes he used to eat on. And, instead of his typical wool gown, he wore a colorful tunic of some exotic oriental silk.  
He looked up and discovered that I was watching him.  
-Admired my beauty?  
-Yes -  
-Yes," he repeated, savouring the word. You'd say the same thing to any man you swindled  
-What?  
-Or did you: give them their due? -Your look puzzled me. Come, Persephone, it was only natural that I should ask for birds to hear from you.  
-Tell me, Caesar, do you think I'll even have a chance to swindle you?  
-Excellent answer. Simple but convincing... and uncompromising. You could be a senator, and certainly your answer satisfies me in another field and saves you from certain purges of the imperial whore.  
-I...  
-How old are you? 25?  
-Cesar...  
-How old did your fame begin? Fourteen or fifteen? When did you learn to lie so well?  
I put my glass down and said:  
-There's never an age to learn, much less in something so essential  
\- I was beginning to connect you with the Greek Minerva: taking it for granted that they chose your name badly, although this phrase, though wise, is the most oftentimes heard...too impulsive for Minerva.  
I got up more quietly inside, feeling a heavy stone, and went back to the balcony, only at a safer distance.  
-Did you come here a lot with Helena? -I said, without thinking.  
-Helena? -he uttered the name as if she'd never heard it before.- No, she didn't like the terrace. She was afraid of falling, unlike you...  
He stood up slowly and approached the dangerous lurking

-Your namesake looked at the cliff of Styx which was the boundary of her former home with the living and what was now her kingdom, a gleam of desire crossed her mind, she just had to let himself fall into the river and it would appear on the other side...yet her unfortunate love for Pluto did not even give him time to assume such a thing without feeling pain in her soul.  
The pressure on my hand made me look down and almost gasp when I saw a grenade in it. I felt his breath on the back of my neck while his fingers caressed my neck. I had never felt so vulnerable and exposed...as if he could pierce me from the inside and violate my soul with legeremance, even though the iconic difference was that I considered this place as Hades and the other side of the balcony edge as life and peace in the reunion with my family. No... it could never be. I turned quickly to face him, the hand grenade falling off in the process, both of us vaguely knowing that he was now heading for the bottom of the cliff.  
-Are you afraid? -he asked, with the look of a curious child.  
With the heel of my foot I brushed the edge.  
-No.  
-You're lying," he said, taking a lock of my hair.  
-Maybe.  
-You're terrified.  
-Of what?  
-You tell me.  
I stood rigidly in my place as he retreated, exploiting my body by refusing to tremble even slightly. In the end it was all over, I just had to fall...but again my garagnta dried up hesitatingly in place...I couldn't do it. I thought as I looked at it.  
And, in fact, I fell, but on the marble floor, as Tom pulled me away from the edge. I caught my breath in my throat, breathing fast. I looked up to look at him.  
He looked at me for a few moments, and smiled, with that beautiful flabby smile that softened his grave face.  
-You'll recognize it" he said happily.- You will recognize that you are afraid. For now, since you are so insistent, wouldn't you like to corroborate what Helen's life would have been like if she had been the concubine of Rome as you supposed?  
He lifted me up with her strong soldier's arm.

He dragged me to the bed, kicked the door shut and forced me to lie down... face down. I didn't know for sure how I ended up naked in the blink of an eye.  
He pressed a hand hard against my shoulder blades to keep me from moving and hit my ass as hard as he could with his naked hand, I bit my lips to avoid screaming in indignation and pain. With my face glued to the bed, I vaguely heard that I knew something about his robe.  
I watched as he cracked the whip beside me, I could imagine his bloody smile. Then he reached out and pulled my two arms behind my back, grabbing my wrists with one hand and reaching for the belt, bending it, I heard a slimy sound coming from his mouth. Just as I was trying to regulate my breathing, he lowered the belt with force and I let out a muffled scream, instinctively fighting the grip I had on myself, hitting me again, crossing the pattern on my buttocks.  
-I think you need to count. We'll start with ten, five on each cheek. If you're wrong, we'll start again from the beginning. Got it?"  
I exalted myself strongly... but I wouldn't cry, ever. I knew exactly what words I really wanted to hear. I was a slave, well then, that he would be satisfied that he would take orders, he wouldn't go beyond me, he wouldn't leave him...he wouldn't force me to be afraid of him...I was never afraid of the world, he wouldn't hear something that wasn't true.  
He separated my legs with one knee, hitting me again and letting me feel that the whip landed partially against the most intimate part.  
I heard a chilling, roguish, angry humming. "Nothing to say, darling?" The belt whistled in the air and hit my naked skin which I imagined was already turning scarlet, tracing stripes in the shape of the blows.  
-One- I finally moaned.  
I could feel her smile fading even if she was on her back. The cold blows continued as he counted, and the evidence was mounting "Never...". He hit me again.  
-Seven  
-Come to me like this again. - this punch was dangerously stuck in the bottom of my ass where I would have to sit.  
-Eight! -  
I got to say the number nine in the same place, wanting to tempt me and I knew I was tempted to be rational and stop the challenge...but I knew if I made the simple decision I would be lost. I was panting from the effort and I also heard her panting and her sweat drops falling on me. I could barely pronounce the ten with the sobbing that finally escaped me.  
Tom laughed as he rubbed and traced the stripes with his finger, then I felt his finger prick the entrance. -I think I should congratulate you again, my Queen of the Underworld, you almost seem genuinely worthy gave me the impression, we will have time to verify, worse now is enough. Holding me apart, he moved his finger up my bloody arse, I snorted and squirmed down. Remembering with disdain how much lewdness was directed more to my rear than to other parts of my anatomy...now it would take its toll.  
Finally he stepped aside, I felt her bend over and grabbed the cushion at the bottom and pulled me sideways just enough to get it under my hips before putting it back on my stomach.  
No...that was enough...no, he couldn't, he wouldn't want to take me now too.  
"You don't need to participate, my turn is coming; you can rest. -He scoffed and climbed back into bed behind me.

TOM

Almost wishing I had taken her this way to begin with, I separated my legs from her, wrapping one of my arms around her chest and pulling her enough to get better leverage.  
I didn't care if it hurt even though it was a priority before. It wasn't about her now, it was about me. I pushed her from behind when she flinched. She was still tight, but she was also wetter than before because of her earlier fingering. And hell, maybe she liked the punishment. Maybe she was a painful bitch. She never said she was afraid and begged him to stop after all.  
I pushed forward constantly, pulling out a place inside her for my limb while she tried not to pant under me. I bent down, kissing her up to her shoulders, knowing that she was in pain from the blows and also because I was deeper inside her than before. I looked between us. -Get ready I still have a few more centimetres to go," I informed her, which tensed her with surprise, I laughed to myself, she could not imagine this, huh, now she was at my mercy with her master far away from her, the fun of subduing her and subjugating her soul had just begun.  
With my free hand, I grabbed her left hip, knowing that tomorrow there would be another bruise there, and I pulled her towards me as I pushed forward, clenching my teeth as I pierced her, moving my hand to cover her mouth as she finally screamed I sank into her little by little, sweat bursting on my forehead and her shoulder blades. I licked her as I continued to move forward until absolutely everything in my limb including the unnecessary was left inside, with the tip pressed tightly against her womb, making her moan.  
"Gods, fuck," I muttered. "So fucking tight." Now she was crying silently and they had barely begun. I let myself rest there for a moment, dropping my head on his shoulder and panting. I looked at the other cushion for a moment, then I reached out and grabbed it, pulling at the surface fabric.I tied it around her mouth and head even if she refused to make noise as much as possible, dramatically giving it an ideal decorative touch that caused performance. -Here we go."  
I exhaled, moving both hands under her to grab her breasts as I slowly withdrew from her. I pushed hard, her body stiffened as she groaned softly. I pinched and pulled on her nipples as I began to fuck her hard and fast, as if it had been years since I had been intimate when in fact it had only been a couple of days. Still. The last bitch hadn't been so tight or responsive and how the hell was I going to go back to other women now, knowing that this bitch would challenge me every fucking night afterward to challenge me in the daytime as well?  
I pumped into her body with ease now, each time hitting bottom. I squeezed her nipples in response to the sensation and hunched over her so that my face was right behind hers, my hips were moving faster than before and sinking even deeper. I slid a hand across her body to press against her belly and swore that I could feel my length pressing behind her belly button. It only made me fuck her harder as she made dull sounds, as if she were dying. For all that is sacred, I was going to have to teach her how to handle pain better than this. Then.  
I just wished I could see her face when I uttered the following words. -I'm going to come inside you.  
She shook herself, moving frantically as she tried to get out from under me, but that only made her more penetrating. I pulled her head back through her hair, grabbing her left tit with my free hand. I ran my teeth down her neck, knowing that tomorrow she would comb her hair to cover the mark.  
I turned away from her for the last time and rammed her as hard as I could, forcing her against me as I tried to get as far inside her as possible, biting her shoulder with enough force to draw blood like balls. I tensed up and came so fucking hard that my vision went white. I gasped for breath, listening to the soft sound of her breathing behind the makeshift gag as I emptied myself into her, as I turned my hips, wanting to make sure every last drop of my seed was planted deep inside her. I licked the blood from her shoulder as I collapsed on her, rubbing my thumb on her sore nipple.

When she finally caught her breath, she came out of it, grabbing it by her thighs and turning it over on her back. Her face was red and stained with tears, her breath was fast and hard behind the gag. For a moment I watched the rapid rise and fall of her chest, licking my lips as I saw all the marks he had made on her. I smiled at her and then leaned over, sucking a nipple into my mouth to try to calm it down a bit as she turned her head, another tear dripping down her cheek. She's never looked more beautiful 

HERMIONE

I woke up slowly, bruised and in pain, when a male hand touched my naked shoulder.  
I turned around frantically and almost fell out of bed. Before me I had a dark-haired Greek in a slave robe who was smiling at me in a friendly way. There was no sign of the emperor anywhere.  
-Who are you? -I asked, in a hoarse voice.  
The man smiled again and began to tidy up the room, putting the pillows and sheets in order. He stopped as he picked up my dress, which was on the floor, and twisted his nose as he saw it torn to shreds.  
-Throw it away," I said.  
He looked at me with such pity as he held the ruined dress in his hands that I had to turn away my angry face. I did not protest when he helped me up. I don't think I could have done it alone.  
He carried me in his arms to the green marble bathrooms next to my bedroom. The pool was already smoking hot; they had lit the coals. He put me in the hot water and bathed me like a baby, rubbing my body with a soft cloth and combing my hair with camellia oil. His fingers treated my bruises with care. Seeing the cum mixed with blood coming out of me made me vomit inside. The slave didn't seem to mind and pulled me out as he prepared to clean the water.  
-What is your name? -I asked him.  
He smiled. He dried me with a towel, wrapped me in a robe, and escorted me out. I shook my head hard, desperate and angry:  
-No, I don't want to... Not on the terrace.  
He made some reassuring sounds, indicating that the terrace was empty. There was only one armchair, with a lonely bowl and a glass. Down below, the fog was rising from the silver river. Jupiter appearing to Danae... Styx.  
I carved out my eyes.  
I felt the huge slave pose gently on the couch. He fixed my wet hair and I noticed the teeth of a comb running through my wet locks.  
With the palms of my hands over my closed eyes, I rocked in the warm May sun.  
-Hello, my dear.  
I raised my head so tightly that I almost fell off the couch. He was a skinny little man in his thirties, with a pink face and thin bangs falling on his forehead.  
-I am Remus," he introduced himself, smiling, "the Emperor's Astrologer. You must be the new concubine. I am pleased to meet you. No, the emperor is not here. He's out on official business, I think. He'll be gone all day.  
I bowed my head in a dull gesture. The only thing that was really going on in my rebellious and spiteful mind was being alone, but Remus did not seem to notice, as he sat on a carved stool in front of my chair and stretched out his feet.  
-Your name is Persephone, isn't it? You know that's the name of a goddess. You have met Sirius, I see. He's the one doing your hair. He has a very suitable name, doesn't he?  
I looked at the slave, who smiled at me. Sirius meant "brightest and greatest star," a name that went very well with those dark blue eyes, ebony-colored hair, and the build of an Adonis. He dazzled and his beauty was noticed.  
-Thank you," I said in a hoarse voice.  
-He is mute," said Remus, "born. Although he is not much different from the other slaves in this village, because they have all had their tongues torn out.  
I looked sideways at the little astrologer and said:  
-"Well, you're not mute.  
-No, but I am not a slave either. I'm not much good, because no one wants an astrologer any more, so I'm confined to my imperial duties. Aren't you going to eat those cakes?  
I passed him the food and I wanted to get in:  
-Why doesn't anyone want to have an astrologer? -  
-Because it's against the law. The emperor has officially forbidden astrologers, but at the same time he finds my services useful. Of course, I am the best. That is why he considers it convenient to have me by his side. It's not a bad job, delicious food, lots of wine, and they pay often," he said, smearing a little cake with honey. Tell me your story now, I'm dying of curiosity.  
-I'm a singer. He saw me and brought me here. There is no more.  
-You have to learn to put some emotion into your stories, my dear. Don't be afraid to exaggerate. I'm an inveterate show-off myself. You must possess something special, otherwise the emperor wouldn't have chosen you. What secret do you keep?  
-Secret? -I said, and I wanted to grab his throat, although I held back the movement caused the little man to be surprised. -It seems that this place loves secrets, as do its OWNERS (stressing to the deluded man his position); although they also boast and try to get him to talk about them.  
-Remus' small, bright eyes looked at my wounds with compassion. A strange girl," she rasped hastily. Well, I guess you're not as fragile as you look. If I may read your horoscope. It would be an interesting read.  
He paused and took a bite of a peach.  
-Horoscope?  
-Yes, and the palm of your hand. To tell you the truth, I prefer hands to stars. There's not that much math involved.  
-That, my dear, is no good. There is no such thing as destiny, even if you are born in a certain divinely determined way, you are the one who guides the laughs according to your way of thinking -simply  
He opened his eyes wide to my sharp voice. He reached out his chubby hand and took mine carefully  
-I'll dispense with the mystical formulas and gestures I usually make on these occasions. Don't worry, honey, you could try to take fate by the horns if you so decide, there are people capable of doing such things.  
Remus' eyes went through the palm of my hand with the professionalism of a civil servant reading an official document.  
-Let's start with the past... I see a warm, clean and somewhat hot place. A six-pointed star... Ah, the symbol of David's race! Then that place must be Judea. A city full of dead people, piles of corpses... Yes, some sad story in Judea. Then new cities, new people... A new name. The music is always there. It runs through your hand like a golden thread. Some hatreds, also old loves... By the gods! I see a warrior who has made a hole in your little hand. Surrounded by applause, like clouds. Does this mean anything to you?  
-No," I answered, in a dry voice. -Go on.  
-After the warrior, a boy. -Oh, don't make that face! I won't open my mouth. I see more children, but that's already on the edge of the future. Yes, a lot of children.  
-Children, whose?  
For God's sake, don't let them be Tom's. Not his, I thought of that Egyptian paste made of gum and acacia thorns that was used to prevent conception, or the pennyroyal and rue tinctures that killed the pregnancy if the paste failed. Tricks of prostitutes, which I would use without any problem. I would never have a child by Tom.  
-It doesn't say whose. It's a palm, not a family tree. There's a crown at the base of the finger. We both know who you mean. The lines intersect here. Testing times are coming.  
-How long will it last? -I'll breathe.  
-I don't know. Quite a while, I guess. Tough times, uncertain end. And then some.  
He bent my fingers over his palm and gave me back my hand.  
-A twisted past, my dear, and a twisted future. I'm sorry.  
-Nonsense, -I said. -How long is that according to your wretched man? Very long?  
Sirius stroked my head.  
-For things like this, I hate to see the future, I don't know how I didn't remember," said Nessus, and handed me a plate. -Here, have a scone.

Sirius took me out to go shopping. I visited the best known forums in Tivoli and, despite wearing a veiled face, everyone recognized me.  
"Would you like some perfume, madam?" "Indian blush?" "Silks that will make your skin glow!" I walked through the forum without flinching, pointing out with a gesture what I wanted. I chose things that would never lose their value: gold figurines, ivory ornaments... small things that would be easy to take away if I had to run away. Sirius followed me like a little lapdog, carrying the pile of packages. When he saw me pass by, the plebeian women murmured, the patrician ladies arched their waxed eyebrows, a legionnaire elbowed his companion... Everyone was moving away from me.  
I needed jewelry. I entered the next shop, pointed to a tray of rings and, before the astonished eyes of the salesman, I emptied his shelf, of each type, of gold, silver and pearls.  
-Would you like some bracelets, madam?  
-Yes.  
I placed handfuls of jewels in the bag until I looked like a criminal thief, and then I put on three or four necklaces.  
-The emperor's officials will take care of the bill, -I said, and I went out with my imperial ransom.  
Those jewels would enable me to have a future in one form or another.  
I crossed the street and sat down on the nearest bench, a block of marble beside the temple of Jupiter. A car had to slow down so as not to run me over, but no one raised his voice or shook his fist. I was the emperor's concubine, who would dare touch me? The member of the Praetorian Guard who, in his armor of gold and red, followed me everywhere, did so not to protect me, but to prevent my escape.  
Sirius made a questioning sound.  
-Yes," I replied.- You were right, I should get out a bit. It's doing me good.  
I let the wind blow on my face. It was a beautiful windy day. It wasn't cold, even though I was wearing my wool scarf over my shoulders. A perfect day.  
I wrapped myself in the wool.  
-Sirius! Sirius! Is that you? -exclaimed a female voice.  
I looked up. A wide smile appeared on Sirius' face, as he laid my shopping on the floor and waved his head towards an albino woman in yellow who was getting out of an elegant golden litter.  
-It is you! -said the woman, "I am glad to see you. Oh, how I wish I could have you back, Sirius. Since I lost you, I haven't had a good massage again. -She turned to me and asked, "Who is this?  
-I am Persephone, domina," I said as I stood up, carried away by my upbringing as a slave.  
-I am Luna Lovegood," she introduced herself, indicating with her warm hand that it was not necessary to bend my head in her presence.- I live up there, in the village on that hill. Well, recently. My husband was the governor of Syria, but the emperor sent us back, so I intend to settle down and become a good Roman matron. The emperor," she said, "is my uncle.  
So this was Luna, the daughter of Emperor Gellert's first marriage and Tom's niece. Her life was less interesting and less given to gossip than her half-sister Helena's, because she was married and had two legitimate children. Which meant that the woman in front of her, with her Slytherin smile and pale face, was probably the mother of the future emperor.  
-You must come and visit us sometime," she said, "it takes a quarter of an hour in a bunk. I love to have visitors. I am afraid I cannot send for you, because my uncle hates to be disturbed.  
I blinked in surprise. Visiting her? A patrician woman, no less than a princess of the Slytherin dynasty, inviting me to her house? Would she know who I was?  
-How lucky I was! -she exclaimed, and patted.- I couldn't wait to see you. You're lovely. I've heard a lot of good things about you.  
-They told you about me?  
-Of course, especially the slaves talk, even the dumb ones. They've already told me how well you sing. You have to sing for me. You play the lyre too, don't you? Oh, honey, is that a bruise?  
I watched her seriously, weighing her unhealthy hidden curiosity, but Luna looked at the blue mark on my wrist without further interest.  
-I fell off the bunk, domina," I said, rolling down my sleeve.  
How much would this yellow-clad patrician who exuded an exotic touch to be of his lineage know about Tom? How much would she have really lived off him in spite of the time?  
Has he inherited his uncle's tastes, besides his features, madam?  
-Ask Sirius to make you his special balm.  
Luna gestured to me and I began to walk beside her, as she walked down the street with the confidence of one who knows that people will turn away from her.  
-Sirius makes an ointment that smells wonderfully good and is very good for cuts and bruises. I always used to prepare it for my half-sister Helena. The poor thing often fell off the bunk.  
I looked at Luna Lovegood, and her heavenly eyes watched me slyly and unblinkingly from her graceful imperial face.  
-Thank you, domina, -I said, and bowed  
Call me Luna," she said, and patted my arm. -Well, I'm afraid I've got to go. I have a lot of things to do this morning. Don't forget to stop by and see me.  
With another flash of yellow silk she left, with the Praetorian Guard behind her like a comet's wake.

They were long days, of a scorching sun. Most of the time I was alone, with Tom coming and going to the city to resolve matters of the Empire. I went shopping; I took endless baths; I worried about Severus, who was probably causing trouble for Pospertine; they kept reading my horoscope without my consent. The stars announced the same bad omens as the hand. The Astrologer looked at me apologizing, and Sirius caressed my hand chanting in silence. Were they lovers? Sirius, mute or not, everyone liked him.  
Tom, while working on the new legislation, was writing a manual on hair care. His raven-coloured hair was silky and shiny, and he started combing it back with a little fringe, like a good model for some new hair anointing advertisement. It was strange to see an emperor writing hair tips, but everyone needs to have a hobby. Tiberius played with slave girls, Claudius studied the Etruscans. Tom wrote about hair. His other passion was to line up the slaves under the terrace and shoot arrows between their outstretched fingers. He was very good. He never missed, only when he did it on purpose. If he was in a bad mood, he was always right. If he was happy, he would sometimes miss.  
I sang a song for Newt, who came to visit me, rosy and understanding. There was also Pospertina, who advised me to get more sleep. Newt said my voice sounded hoarse. "I've been putting up with too much lately," I replied very seriously, and he understood. Then he disappeared, I woke up and realized that it had all been a dream.  
A month had already passed. There were only a few more months of summer before Tom returned to Rome and I could go back to Brundisium, with Newt's kind voice. A few months, but time passed very slowly.  
-Remus tells me you've met my niece, Luna.  
-Yes.  
-An oaf, like her mother. Christian, for more signs. Do you know what Christians are? Rats that gather in catacombs and paint fish on the walls. I've thought of taking away the custody of your children, but for now they seem to be good Roman citizens.  
-So they'll be your heirs?  
-Correct. Since my wife is unable to offer me any alternative. ..would you like to give it to me?  
-I hate children, -I answered coldly  
I gasped as I felt a cold sharp metal tracing on my nipple, I found myself shackled to the ceiling (which had not been long in coming) and Caesar's imperial robe was tied on my head depriving me of vision.  
-You are afraid," he said before biting my cheekbone very close to my eye.  
He slid the blade across my stomach, I felt a small, thin trail of blood on the surface cut over my belly, which was probably already red. He slid it further down, cutting the dress halfway through and leaving me completely naked and open to whatever he wanted to do to me,  
I vaguely heard the metal left on the floor, pulled and pinched my nipples until they became little beak sprouts and I snorted. During the sessions I began to show pseudo pleasure at the pain caused, at least that didn't show some of the humiliation I felt about it...and maybe he lost interest in seeing that I liked it. He lowered his head, sucking on one of my sensitive breasts and a faint groan escaped me. He walked away, taking another object or rather toy.  
-Does this hurt? -He asked like a child and pulled my right nipple between his thumb and forefinger before squeezing a curved needle hard. I resisted his restrictions. He grabbed my left nipple and did the same with another, squeezing them both and making me back off in an attempt to escape, which only got worse when they got stuck in my sensitive skin.  
I took a deep breath and regulated myself as best I could, with my jaw tightening in the knowledge that I was being evaluated. -How about a little break? I'm getting hungry.- He didn't wait for me to answer when he turned and walked to the door leading to the dining room, leaving me hanging there waiting for the next round. Endless nights full of strange practices: that sharp style he used to skewer flies used for other tasks; "Does it hurt? No? If I try to put it in a little more? His eyes rolled back and his hands were restless, and he looked like a scientist conducting experiments.  
Later, when he came back, he made me open my lips. It was a weapon, I knew it, it was an arrowhead inside my mouth, and a tight bow held it. The cloth had been partially removed from my eyes, but I refused to open them, I could not get an exact idea of the kind of visual art that would become my inert body when I released the end of the arrow - completely backwards or just a part of it? I was already insolent, but if I had possessed a little more audacity I would find myself sucking the edge; without opening my eyes.  
-Open your eyes," whispered Tom, "and tell me you're afraid of me.  
-No.  
-I can smell it.  
-No.  
Experiencing the limit, going to the limit and having it become a workout has never been so literal.  
I needed jars and more jars of Sirius' ointment.  
A second month went by, very slowly.  
-You look very pale, Persephone," said Luna. -You must get more sun. I don't care what they say, the sun is there to be enjoyed, not to be fled from it like a horde of barbarians. How is the emperor?  
-All right, dominate Luna. -She never asked me any more questions, and I always answered so succinctly. -How are your children?  
—They are made savages —answered, excited-They'll turn brown like the Arabs, and they say they'll never go back to the city again.  
-And her husband?  
I had met Neville, a pale gentleman who treated me with the same courtesy he displayed to all women, from his wife to the lowest slave.  
-He's very fond of this fresh air. I'm not going back to the city either. I'm having a lot of fun restoring and refurbishing this villa. Last week they put new mosaics on us.  
I looked at the floor, and noticed that it was made up of medallions with two iridescent fish.  
-Very nice," I commented sarcastically. -Fish... are a Christian symbol, aren't they?  
-I see that my uncle has told you about my little defect," she said smiling, and a dimple formed on her chin.- Yes, I am a Christian. Xenophilus, a freedman of my mother's, was a Christian. Considering that my mother's husband did not stop at home, it can be said that Xenophilius was my father, so something stuck with me. I'm afraid this is very upsetting to the emperor. It's no secret, even though in public I genuflect before the various gods.  
-Tell me, then do you believe in only one God? And what did he reincarnate?- I digressed, with false shyness. I found it stupid. To tell you the truth, it was getting stupider every day that I believed in gods.  
-A long story... though you're Jewish, aren't you? Or you were, anyway, I might take you for weak or strong if you've changed. As for my uncle: he simply despises my beliefs, considers them a heavy entertainment. Who cares if I bring baskets of food to my poor neighbours from time to time?  
Her gentle tone aroused in me certain suspicions. Luna surely went beyond baskets of food. Would all the slaves who prowled his village really be slaves? Would all those raggedy children who showed up at his door really be beggars? Everyone in the Slytherin family had secrets, both the cruelest and the most generous members. But Luna Lovegood never asked me about mine, so I thanked her for not telling them either.  
-So,' she said, moving on to a less compromising subject, 'has Remus written you a horoscope? Trust him, he's the best astrologer in the Empire. It's a pity my faith won't allow me to consult it. Isn't he a lovely man? Maybe I'll ask him to read my future one day. He's very grateful to me, especially since I lent Sirius to him for a massage. He never returned it. He made up some meaningless prophecy to keep it. My faith doesn't allow me to accept love between men either, but you must admit that the two of you are very happy together.  
I was listening vaguely. I think she knew, because she always asked me to come back and visit her, but she didn't ask me any questions. 

Three months had already passed. The cold autumn winds came to the hot city of Tivoli. September was just around the corner. Autumn was here... at last.  
-It was time to go back to Rome," Tom said at dinner. -It's a shame, it's been a wonderful summer.  
-Yes, wonderful," I said, and took a drink from my glass of wine.  
-Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Persephone,' he said. I was in a good mood, He had been moderate in bed today. Well, sarcasm or no sarcasm, you have served me well enough. You've been excellent summer company. How do you want me to reward you?  
-You already have, Caesar.  
-With my divine presence?  
-Logically.  
-Yes, and you've become quite well known in the jewellery shops for your greed. No doubt your Jewish origins have surfaced.  
-I'm sure. -Snorting to get away, but someone was waiting for me.  
I would go home, finally, send me home now.  
Tom put his dinner aside, got up, picked up his exotic, shiny silk gown, and went over to the edge of the terrace. He looked good, athletic and healthy, with high, whitish cheekbones and that slight smile which did not disappear from his lips. He gazed for a few moments at the river, and then turned and called to me:  
-Come here.  
I came closer. He placed an absent hand on the back of my neck and I felt my feet approaching the marble edge.  
-Do you want me to let go?  
I knew, without a doubt, that if I said yes, I would throw myself off the cliff. But I still had one vague move.  
-Do you want to let me go? -I answered, looking him straight in the eye  
For a moment, I thought I'd throw myself away. But, similar to the first night, he pulled me away from the edge and threw me gently on the marble floor this time. This time with practice I held on to the arm of a chair, crouching down.  
He knelt with a surprising agility for his corpulence. He grabbed me by the wrist, and I saw his dagger. I resisted, but he caught my hand between his powerful fingers. I saw the edge of the weapon gleaming as he threw it with a quick movement over my hand. It took me a while to realize that there was no blood or pain.  
The ring with Newt's name fell, broken in two pieces, onto the marble floor.  
I looked him.  
-That trinket," said Tom, sheathing the dagger, "was not worthy of a brave woman.  
On my finger, where the copper ring had been, there was a white band.  
-Are you giving me the freedom?  
-I thought you would prefer to wear this," he said, opening a filigree chest on the table and motioning for me to come closer.  
I saw a silver necklace, which he placed around my neck. I looked down and saw a black stone (probably a jet) resting on my throat.  
-Tom-" His name escaped me without my being able to help it.  
He didn't answer, his only reaction was a nod of recognition. When I looked up, I saw a blacksmith at the door. With his soot-stained apron, he was standing on that elegant terrace.  
-Weld it well," said Tom. -Don't worry if you burn it.  
-What? -I said, looking at it. -Weld it?  
-A more elegant version of that pompous ring,' explained the emperor affably. -The stone is an idea of mine. A black stone. Consider it my eye on you. I like to mark my belongings.  
I felt the rough hands of the smith on my neck when he closed the choker.  
-But... You said that...  
-I had Praetor Newt arrested for treason," said Tom, unmoved. -After the trial, he was allowed to kill himself. As you well know, the property of traitors becomes the possession of the Empire. You belong to me now.  
-Newt - 'I could hardly get the words out.- Newt  
-Yes. I never thought I'd find you so interesting or that I could stand you after three months. But there's something about you I like, and in the long run, I'd rather own than rent. In a week you'll come back to Rome with me.  
I felt the heat of the silver on my neck softening and letting go. I hardly noticed the burns, for I was frozen inside. Newt!  
The emotions came to me at last... suddenly, and the agonizing knot began to twist in my stomach.  
-Do you know that I've built a new palace? It's almost finished. I will use it for public events and as the residence of Empress Nagini. You will be installed in the chambers of the Domus Augustana, my private palace. Do you know that I have ordered a statue of your face to be carved in my private temple? Maybe you are a goddess. It would be foolish to let my own goddess escape, wouldn't it? And I've never been a fool.  
I felt like I was hyperventilating.  
Tom stroked my hip with his absent gaze.  
-I like to play games, you know. It's easy to make my chamberlains, my senators or my guards afraid of me. Even my wife is afraid of me under that marble face. But not you. Just you and one other person... you know who? Not a human being, but a mere slave. Another animal, like you. A gladiator. The one they call the Barbarian. He's not afraid of me either, and he survives, he survives everything. He comes to the edge of the cliff and looks at me, looks at me, looks at me... But I'll take care of him. We'll see what happens in the first few games of the season. That's when it'll all be over. In Rome there is only one lord and God... And a goddess. I can't accept any more, Persephone.  
And I burst out, I looked at him without hiding any emotion of the whirlpool I felt and I tried to get closer without caring about the pain or the blacksmith, when he held my arm Tom came towards me in the moment of distraction, his expression was beastly and his eyes more terrifying than ever because of his maniacal smile, I would have done more than inhibit myself if it were not for the hate that dominated my senses, I took the dagger of his tunic by reflection, ready to fit it into his neck no matter what, he hit my forearm with his elbow and I could only make a crack near the corner of his mouth, his tongue soon shot out licking his blood as he pushed and squeezed me, urging the frightened blacksmith to continue his work even though it was almost done, only with touches of red and molten silver splashed elsewhere; in dripping measure under my clothes. I knew what was coming, I could no longer hold back.  
That night I fought with all my strength even if it was no use, I knew I would be seriously injured and would not even let myself die... He did not care at all, he only changed the dynamics of his game and with it his fun. He never stopped smiling at me in wonder.

ALBUS

I reluctantly went to the chariot races, dragged by my cousin and friend Minerva to the Circus Maximus, but I didn't usually go to the games. "A wild, tasteless spectacle that exploits the primal instincts," he used to say, surprised to see how, after the games, the masses gladly accepted decrees that they had rejected completely only four days before. However, sometimes I would come to the Coliseum, usually accompanied by a slave who would hold the scrolls for me and warm them up so that I could work between fights, which I attended coldly. "If you want to see the essence of Rome," I said bitterly, "you have to go to the games." I was about to watch the Barbarian's last performance, and I expected nothing more than the usual victory followed by mass hysteria.  
-Dominus," my butler whispered in my ear, "I have just learned that Mrs. Bellatrix has been invited to the imperial box.  
-Well, there's nothing to worry about," I said.  
-Yes, my lord, but she had come with little Delphini.  
-Here? To the games?  
-Yes, dominus. And since I couldn't take her to the imperial box...  
I was burning with rage as I made my way to the section of the grandstand where the patrician women were. Taking a little girl of seven to the games and leaving her alone, surrounded by strangers! I found my daughter in a corner, behind a handful of Bella's friends. The little girl, well dressed, was abandoned while the women, full of make-up, drank wine amidst laughter and shouted encouragement to the gladiators. I excused myself with a sharp tone and took my daughter away.  
-Can we go home? -asked the little girl between hiccups.  
She had a wine stain on her dress. Surely someone would have dropped the glass on the little girl.  
I considered that possibility. I would love to take my daughter home, but at every entrance there were masses of excited commoners jostling each other to get in. Even if my slaves managed to get us through, it would take at least an hour of sweat and exhaustion to get us home, and nothing is more unwise for Delphi's epilepsy than a cluster.  
-'We will leave after the Barbarian fight, when the people have calmed down. Until then, sit down and rest, Delphini.  
But that day it was difficult to be calm in my box.  
-Ouch! Let go of me! Let go of me! -shouted someone at the entrance.  
I went over to see what was going on, and found my butler fighting with a young slave.  
-Kreacher? What's going on?  
-I'm sorry, dominus. I caught this rascal trying to sneak in.  
The boy stirred and bit the butler's fist, which let out a shriek. The boy ran, but I managed to grab him by the back of the neck.  
-Well,' I said in a serious tone, -who are you? A slave, I see. Who is your master?  
The boy slipped out of my hand, but I managed to grab him by the robe. The boy frowned. He was two years older than my daughter, brown and dark-skinned. Delphi looked at him with wide eyes.  
-Where did you come from? Answer me, boy," I ordered, looking at his prominent jaw, -or I will turn you over to the magistrates.  
-From Brundisium," he replied reluctantly  
-From so far away? Did you come with your owner?  
-My owner died. A cartwright took me to Misenum, and then I kept walking. All roads end here.  
-All roads lead to Rome. -I apostilled  
Next to him, Delphi giggled. The little slave looked dejected.  
-I just wanted to see the big city.  
-I see. And you couldn't have started with the chariot races?  
-That's for kids.  
Delphi laughed again and, pulling at my sleeve, said:  
-Father, can you stay?  
-If you have the stomach for it.  
I found a stool for my daughter and sat her at the bottom of the box, where she could not see the sand. Then I ordered the boy:  
-Don't disturb and don't make any noise. You can watch, if you want.  
-Really? -exclaimed the boy, and for the first time he bowed.- Dominus, you have a great view from here. Will I be able to see the gladiators? I had difficulty entering...  
-Silence,- I said, amusing.  
-I am sorry, dominus.  
The boy bowed again, though he did not appear to be very contrite, and leaned against the railing.  
-What's your name? -asked Delphi.  
-Severus," he answered, and looked back at her.  
-Like the Gaulish warlord? -said Delphi, and looked at me.  
The week before he had reviewed Severus' history with his tutors while studying the conquest of Gaul.  
-He was my father," he replied proudly.  
-But he died over a hundred years ago!  
-He was my grandfather," he corrected.  
-You really came all the way from Brundisium?  
-Yes. My owner died, and I didn't want to end up in the slave market.  
Delphi looked at him in surprise, and Severus expanded at his gaze.  
-It was difficult to leave the city. I stole a cart first, okay? Then its owner started chasing me with a whip...  
I watched the two children: his daughter, small, quiet, clean and dressed in pearls. The slave, dirty, braggart, smiling and lying.  
By the gods, I thought, my daughter has made a friend.

HARRY

In the basement of the Colosseum, I could already hear the shouting of the crowd.  
-The crowd seems to be in high spirits," said Ron.  
The cat, curled up in my cape, purred imperturbably. I methodically undressed and prepared for combat: first I put on the blue skirt, then the greaves, then the mesh sleeve protecting the sword arm, which I wore in what a rich admirer imagined to be barbaric symbols. During that ritual, the demon was spreading inside me, not stirring restlessly as in the past, but still looking around with a certain greed. I reached out and picked up my sword, a perfectly balanced weapon with a left-handed hilt forged especially for me. Being the best had its privileges.  
-The time has come," said Ron, taking his own sword, a miniature copy of mine.  
The shouting was increasing. As they walked through the dark passages, dust was falling from the ceiling. As we passed by the cages of the Christians condemned to death, Alastor caught up with us.  
-Oh, thank goodness I'm on time! Have a good day, boy, and good luck. You know you have two fights today. I just wanted to make sure you knew that. And in case there are any other surprises... well, keep an eye out.  
Rooster patted Ron's head, stroked my naked arm and disappeared with his jewels. Ron watched him as he walked away and commented:  
-"Does it look like that to me, or is that bastard hiding something from us?  
-You're imagining it," I said, raising my head to hear the applause. Behind him in the cage the Christians were sobbing and sanctifying themselves.  
Today, I thought, is going to be an important day. I wondered why.

DRACO

It was a great parade, of course.A modest number, since it was not a military triumph but the festival of Voturnalia. The Praetorian Guard ordered by rank in our uniforms of red and gold. I, returning from the Germanic front, looking very noble on my black steed, was long acclaimed. Princess Luna and her husband, on bunk beds, smiled and waved as only royalty can. Emperor Tom appeared on a golden chariot, flanked by Luna's children. The youngest would be 8 years old. Persephone closed the parade, back on a silver litter covered with black curtains that the wind blew away so that people could catch a glimpse of her lavender silk dress, her silver and amethysts, or her white ankle on black velvet cushions.  
At least they couldn't see her throat... although the black stone was an incomparable jewel, the red ribbon that held it gave it an elegantly miserable touch.  
I had been one of those in charge of Newt's sentencing. I remembered his sombre look, but his docility had surprised me. I could not believe that the emperor had crushed him like a fly in order to take possession of Persephone. Why? There was no need to do so. He could have just bought her. But a man like Tom would rather crush than buy. Newt was sentenced to death for treason in a rigged trial, but (as Tom had said) he was offered the chance to kill himself. He organized a last dinner for friends who were not afraid of being tainted by being associated with him, in fact a farewell with his musicians. I was there until the end, supervising: Newt presiding over the table, with his lady or wife at his side, listening to his backing singers, his lutes and his singers for the last time. He gave each artist his chance, offering them kind words, some coins and perhaps one last review. Behind the curtains, the slaves would have cried their eyes out, but they would all have given their best for their master. After dismissing his guests, he retired to his quarters, where he would have dipped into a tub of scented water and slit his wrists.  
I had no doubt that the woman accompanying him would have held his hand until the end, and then taken the knife and accompanied him.  
"What of the house," I wrote to a praetor.  
"Traitors are dispossessed of their possessions, which become the property of the Empire," he replied. Newt's brother acquired the house at an imperial auction, but without the musicians.  
Newt's brother was a brute who was not interested in music, but he would surely have acquired the slaves of the house. He even got back a boy who was once trained by him, although he had no doubt that strong boys would use them as stable boys until they grew up, and then as guards or porters. At least.  
The parade was over, and the curtains on the bunk beds opened. Incense, priests, trumpets and cheers. I saw the Colosseum, like a gigantic house of death that prevented me from seeing the sun.  
I walked in front of Luna, who was already planning to fake a headache before the main show began. In front of him were his two children, jumping up and down in excitement. As for me, I was carrying my doom dressed in green on my arm. The emperor was leading the retinue, with his hated wife at his side. The empress, tall, serious and covered with diamonds. We crossed a marble anteroom and entered the imperial box.  
The amphitheatre stretched out before us with its clean white sand. But it wouldn't last too long if it were this pristine. The gladiators were not yet out. They would be in the underground, waiting, praying. The most acclaimed would be there.  
I looked away from the sand circle and took my place, I could see Persephone at the back of the box. Her personal slave stood behind her like a post, placing his hand on her shoulder, I arched an eyebrow, it was strange that she would allow others to invade her personal space, although he was a handsome fellow. In front of me was he, with the kids on one side and his wife on the other. Luna sat in a corner, from which he could get away, and I...  
-Persephone-The frustrating voice next to me said, "What a surprise!  
Bellatrix, my companion, sat right in front of her.

-Iugula! -shouted Bella, with a red face, to a gladiator begging for mercy.  
For a moment, I remembered that Persephone had once been his slave.  
-You still don't like the games, Hermione?  
In the arena, a Mauritanian was cutting off the head of a Gaul.  
-No," she answered, and I closed my eyes, "I'm bored out of my mind.  
-Bored? -How entertaining this is!  
All around us in the stands people were standing, shouting, cheering and gesticulating. Luna's children were excited. Tom watched with expert eyes as I looked in all directions except towards Bella, putting his hand on the arm of my companion's chair, barely half an inch from her, it was a dark feeling even in public, that if I touched her even slightly, I would be burned alive.  
Bellatrix ate a stuffed vine leaf and, licking her delicate fingers, commented:  
-I can't wait to see the next fight. What's next, Draco? -she asked, stroking my shaky wrist with a painted nail that trembled.- Ah, yes, the Barbarian.  
She smiled at the woman behind her, who gestured back.  
-How is your husband, Bella? Shouldn't you be with him? -said the fine voice in reply. -Don't tell me you've already squandered your fortune.  
Surprised, I opened my mouth to answer, but just then Luna stood up, waving her orange silk and gold bracelets.  
-Oh God," she said, "I am a little dizzy. This damned heat! Excuse me. Dear children, behave yourselves.- And she disappeared.  
-Sirius," said Persephone to her slave in a solicitous tone, "please attend to the lady,- and I closed my eyes when I saw the slave's tense and frightened expression.  
-What authority hovers over the plebs, of course, when you have a great teacher it usually happens.And you rise in rank, I say, Bella with a smile.  
I observed the slave following the path of the princess, he was carrying a cloth bag with something hidden inside, because of its shape I thought it was a kind of dust; held with dissimulation in his right hand. I was prepared to intercept it, but I did not have time because the murmur of the crowd turned into a scream. The Barbarian.  
He passed so close to the imperial box that one could almost count the scars on his back. Everyone in the box was silent.  
That huge place made him small. He advanced, deaf to the applause. There were more wrinkles on his tanned face than before, but he was still tall and strong. He still refused to walk proudly or to smile. He was still handsome for a female audience.  
He did not bow to the emperor, only bowed his head slightly and that gesture seemed petulant and boiled my blood, he was truly a beast, he knew no manners. Then he turned and raised his sword, and I flew.  
He fought a Thracian whose face was blurred to me. The only thing I could see was a pair of bloody, glowing Thracian swords that took my breath away, especially when the curved edge of one went into the barbarian's leg and he came out soaked in blood. But just after, I don't know how, the other sword flew out and the Barbarian charged with ease. From then on, he fought more calmly, with more connected movements, better controlling the bow of his sword. I was carried away by the wave of applause.  
-How dull," complained Bellatrix. -If only I could lose once.  
The barbarian took off his helmet and tied up his hair. He handed his sword to the clerk in the amphitheatre, took a step forward, and nodded again to the emperor. Tom, who was playing dice with two courtiers, was not even paying attention to what was going on in the arena. But he stared at him more than he knew, and the emperor looked up. I could see the tension in Tom's skin. Finally, the man looked away and walked towards the Gate of Life. He had forgotten the movement of his back as he walked. How could one forget such a thing!  
The murmur of the stands turned to laughter when a trapdoor opened in the sand and an almost rickety bearded figure appeared. A redhead dressed as a miniature barbarian. How funny! I didn't think anyone could ever make me laugh again. The Barbarian paused for a moment, bent down to talk to the skinny man, and laughed with some complicity in some joke.  
He patted his bony back and continued to walk towards the Gate of Life. But just as the noise was beginning to relax, four guards appeared in the arena and surrounded him. Another trap door opened and out came half a dozen brigantines, dressed in green skirts and carrying swords.

DELPHI

While the midday executions were taking place (which I knew even though my father was reluctant to mention it in front of me), that boy dedicated himself to telling me about his amazing adventures until he arrived in Rome, where there were flying horses, three-headed dogs and a gang of forty thieves. However, as soon as the champion appeared, he ignored me  
-Hala! -he exclaimed. -Yes sir! Pull!  
When the fight was over, he sat down and let out a whistle.  
-What's the matter? -I asked, stretching my neck.  
My father motioned for me to return to my seat. He didn't want me to see what was happening in the arena. My eyes opened like plates as I listened to the continuation of the great story the boy was telling me, and I could barely hear the screams and blows that were taking place in the sand; for some reason I did not doubt that he was a hero and that he was capable of great things.  
-How good the Barbarian is! -he commented in amazement. I knew he was the best, but I did not imagine him to be so. He is a god.  
-He is very good," agreed my father, "I always try to get him to fight right after the Senate imposes a new tax. He calms the masses for weeks.  
-Who's the Barbarian? -I asked.  
-But what world do you live in? -asked Severus, looking at me strangely.-Locked in a box?  
-I am forbidden to go to the games. I have epilepsy,' I explained.- That kind of emotion doesn't agree with me.  
-You're the first person I've ever met with epilepsy," he said, looking at me with interest, which made me blush.- Well, there's Julius Caesar, but I didn't meet him in person. Do you know he gets cured with gladiator's blood? I'll give you my blood when I'm a gladiator. You'll see.  
-I don't believe it, -I said, with eyes like plates.  
-Yes," Severus protested, thrusting at the wall with an imaginary sword. -I'll be better than the barbarian.  
-You'll get into trouble.  
-No matter what I do, I always get into trouble," he answered wisely, "so you'd better do what you can.  
Well, a philosopher, I thought in wonder. What a curious boy. Warrior but thinking, I got strange butterflies in my stomach.  
-Hey, they're opening another trap door," said Severus, leaning out of the railing. -What is it now?

HARRY

-But what... ? -I exclaimed as the guards disarmed me.- My fight is over.  
-We have orders to hold you," said one of the guards. "If you know what's good for you, you'd better stay put.  
They held me down, two on each side. I saw a trapdoor open in the sand and six boys from Brigantia appeared, with their green skirts. They advanced in formation towards a surprised Ron.  
-No!" I shouted, and tried to get out of it, but it was too late.  
Ron looked about him in confusion. His comic number was, "Barbarian Harry Slaughtering the Heathens," with twenty peacocks in the role of a pagan. But there were no peacocks anywhere, just half a dozen guys with their swords drawn.  
-Oh, oh...  
He threw down the wooden sword, and ran, but they caught up with him.  
The Brigantines formed a circle around Ron, who tried to find a hole to run through, but fell down, hit by a confusion of handles.  
I was screaming, cursing and struggling with the guards. I was hit hard on the back of the head and fell to my knees.  
Moaning and sobbing, Ron turned and ran with his long legs. The stands burst into laughter when, after gaining momentum, he tried to climb over the amphitheater wall.  
They grabbed him again.  
I managed to free one arm and threw a punch at a guard. I was knocked down with a shield and ate sand. Ron was screaming.  
I stretched out my arm and grabbed a guard by the knees; I reached for the man's belt and snatched the dagger from him. Ron was screaming my name.  
I found a hole in the guard's armor and stabbed him. The blood splashed on my face. I pulled the body away, stood up and stumbled out, but the other three guards jumped on my back and knocked me down again.  
I wiped the sand from my eyes, and for a moment I could see Ron's face: a white oval on the ground, his bloodshot eyes staring into infinity, and his dark mouth open, screaming.  
I opened my mouth, my whole body in tension, and responded to my friend's scream. I was consumed in a long, endless howl, which served as the framework for the stabs that fell on Ron's body as the Brigantines beat him to death.  
I stopped watching when the demon broke loose and screamed inside me.  
Just at that moment, the guards handed me my sword and released me.  
-Wow-The people in the audience commented. This is getting interesting. They looked at the scene with open mouths. I fell to my knees when I was released and the sword slipped out of my hands.  
Kill them, the demon moaned, from afar.  
I couldn't breathe. I took off my helmet and threw it aside as I clenched my fists.  
Kill them, the demon protested.  
I imagined Alastor's laughter, lying in his chair. "I'm sure this will wake up the Barbarian from before, -he would say,- happily. Enjoy the show!"  
I rocked on my ankles as the brigantines watched me, panting, swords shaking in their sweaty hands. I stretched out my arms. My hands were bleeding from the wounds I had made with my own nails, but I felt nothing.  
-Kill me.  
They stared at with open mouths.  
-Kill me," I shouted.- Kill me, you bastards!  
My voice echoed in every corner of a silent Colosseum. I rose to my feet and took a step forward, my arms wide open.  
-Kill me!  
Murmuring and gesturing against the evil eye, the Brigantines retreated.

DRACO

In the imperial box we were all standing like statues. Me, I was speechless with my hands in fists; Bella, with a handful of sweets halfway to her lips; the empress showed surprise instead of her usual calm; Luna's children, frozen and admired, Persephone...  
Then Tom stood up and shouted, as loudly as the Barbarian:  
-Iugula!  
The emperor turned his thumb down, making the sign of death.  
The Brigantines surrounded him, as he circled with outstretched arms.  
-Who is going to start? -he shouted, hitting us with his voice. -Who wants to be the first to slash the Barbarian?  
The Brigantines, surprised, licked their lips and looked at each other.  
-Kill me! -he shouted, and took the point of a trembling sword and held it to his throat. Come on!  
The boy dropped the sword.  
He moved like a lion towards the others, until the other five swords fell into the sand. Six young men in their prime retreated, their faces whiter than a senator's robes, before a single aging gladiator who reduced them one by one using his gaze as his only weapon.  
Then he laughed. He threw back his head and burst out laughing into the sky. He leapt up to the brigantines, who came out in a panic with their eyes wide open.  
He turned and headed for the emperor, who was still standing at the front of the box.  
-Are you trying, Caesar? -he shouted, stretching out his arms. -You bloody leech.

DELPHI

-Whoa! -Claimed Severus. -What a fool! Now he's really in trouble.  
-What's the matter? -I asked, getting up from my stool to try and see something. -What's all the fuss? Can I...?  
-It's time for us to go, Delphini," said Father, as he took me in his arms and signaled to the butler.  
All around us the crowd was silent, paralyzed by the audacity of the star gladiator. Goddess Fortune, what would the plebs do after this?  
-And Severus? -I asked, turning my head to look at the boy as we left. -He stayed there.  
-He'll be all right," he said.- Hold on tight.  
-He took off my pearl headband," I protested in distress, but I really wanted to stay.- Do you think we'll see him again?

DRACO

When Tom grabbed a bow and arrow quiver from a guard, he drew his bow and fired. The arrow was stuck in the ground between the man's feet.  
He burst out laughing and took a step forward, arms outstretched, offering himself with a smile.  
Tom shouted without saying anything, only let out a long roar, and fired again.  
This time the arrow whistled past his hair. The next, it grazed his shoulder.  
Normally, Tom was such a marksman with his bow that he could shoot five arrows between the separated fingers of a slave fifty yards away. However, that day he emptied the quiver without touching the mocking target.  
The big man didn't stop laughing, and behind the back of our box I thought I heard another happy laugh, I turned around but found only an empty seat.  
In the stands I could hear a few snickers. Tom looked around the audience, looking for the confused laughter of those fifty thousand people.  
The barbarian's laughter faded. He took another step forward, and fixed his eyes on Tom's. Then he spat on the sand.  
-Guards! -exclaimed the emperor, red as a tomato. -Guards!  
A shower of spears fell on the sand. Two hit an unfortunate brigantine, who writhed in agonizing shouts. The one who should have been the target walked, unharmed, toward the center of the amphitheater. He took the body of the red-haired man, placed it on his shield, lifted it, and carried it calmly through the Gate of Death. He did not graze him with a spear.  
There was silence at the Coliseum. A deadly silence so uncomfortable that fifty thousand people froze. Some sneaked up to the exit, among them a chubby man with a fringe of curls smeared with oil. The emperor's eyes were fixed upon him, and with his finger he pointed to the man who had suggested that the red-haired man be killed in order to arouse the fury of the barbarian and thus make a great spectacle.  
-Throw him into the sand!  
The stands exploded. The citizens of Rome rose to their feet and tore the air with their bloodthirsty hands. A dozen hands grabbed Alastor and threw him into the arena. Once there, five hysterical, sobbing brigantines tore him to pieces before he could shout the words, "I will pay you.

HARRY

In the sand, I had felt immortality coursing through my veins, but once in the dark gallery of Death Gate, that feeling faded away. My mouth was full of sand, and there was an ever-bleeding wound on my leg. Even the lightweight corpse of my friend was heavy for me.  
Ron!  
In that dark, naked passage where the dead were carried, I laid the shield with his body on the ground and prepared it for a farewell like those given to heroes in Brigantia. I straightened the crooked limbs, closed the only eye left on his face, and laid his little hands on the tiny sword. I took off my helmet and armor, and placed them beside him. The time had come to put an end to Harry the Barbarian, who surely would not have long to live. As if my thoughts were heard, I smelled gunpowder and an explosion erupted in the room on one side, reaching the side where I was, the flames of fire engulfing the walls as they passed... I knew that the whole of the lower part of the Colosseum was in flames. I barely felt the pain of contact with the fire when a spark fell on my arm.  
It turned as the dry wood on the floor began to ignite. I groped, shivered, stumbled and hit the walls. The passages were empty. It was the first time I had walked through the Gate of Death. Perhaps death was like that. I rounded a corner and bumped into a slave running with a bucket of rotten lion meat, which he dropped as he screamed. I dodged a couple of alarmed guards and ran down another passageway.  
Suddenly he saw a blue glow.  
-Watch out! Look where you're going!  
I focused my gaze, and that blue glow turned into a pale woman with platinum hair and a turquoise silk stola, holding a pair of dirty children in her hand. The lady looked at me seriously and said  
-"Listen: you haven't seen us.  
-What?  
-Come on! -ordered the woman, gesturing behind her back.  
Several slaves appeared behind her, holding in their arms or hands ragged children with enormous eyes. I counted more than thirty.  
-What the...?  
-You have not seen us," repeated the woman, and motioned to the slaves to move forward.- I will buy your silence, just as I have bought the silence of the others. But you have not seen us.  
-Anyway, I'm a dead man," I said. The body weighed me down like lead. -We'd better run. There's a fire.  
-Fire? -exclaimed the woman, looking for the smell of smoke and leaning hesitantly against the wall.- Where?  
-Everywhere,' I said.- Where they leave the bodies I saw it.  
-What? But... Who are you?  
-The Barbarian," I answered, tired.  
-Harry the Barbarian? I thought you looked familiar. Those screams up there, they didn't have anything to do with you?  
-A little.  
The woman gave me a sharp look.  
-You're not running away?  
-No," I answered very calmly, "I'm dead, I told you.  
-Well, you look very much alive to me," said the woman, and took a deep breath. -Look, now I really smell smoke. Here, take this child.  
I obeyed, for it was the best I could do. I felt little arms around my neck and followed the woman in the albino dress down the dark corridor.  
-Who are you? -I asked her with difficulty.  
-Luna Lovegood. These children, or their parents, are heretics. Christians and Jews condemned to be eaten by lions. I'll see to it that that doesn't happen. Is that understood? Do as I say, and you'll get out of here too.  
The emperor's niece! I began to suppose that was why they hadn't come across any guards in the passages. An emperor's niece could bribe them to stay away. The slaves who came and went with weapons or rakes to drag the dead looked at us with suspicion, but the woman deposited some coins in their hands and went on her way.  
The fire grew threefold when it was visible again. The next slaves who were found no longer paid any attention to us, they just ran in search of buckets of water.  
-Open this door," ordered the woman.  
I shouldered a heavy door which yielded obediently, and they went out in broad daylight.  
-Get the children into that cart, quickly. Come on, little one, don't cry, everything will be all right. Go on, Marcellus," ordered the woman, and slapped a horse to get them going.  
Then he turned and waved at me.  
-This is my bunk. Get in.  
I gazed at the woman so elegantly dressed and looked at the silver bunk with its velvet cushions and silk curtains. It was all too unreal.  
-Come on! Get in! -Luna Lovegood repeated, "Do you want to be killed by the Praetorian Guard or get blown up?  
-Wait a second.  
-We don't have time to...  
I went to the door and hobbled to the first corner of the passage. I put my tongue to the top of my mouth and hissed. A moment later my cat appeared, trotting, with a glove between her teeth.  
-We're going," said Luna from the bunk.- Are you coming or not?  
I grabbed the cat and climbed up to the bunk.

TOM

-Fire! Fire!  
-The subways are on fire!  
This had been the worst day in my omen, so much so that it caused the explosion and destruction of an entire Colosseum, I thought with irony...there was no logical reason for this fire, only something divine, I thought determinedly, enduring my fervent anger and thirst to destroy the whole city and kill everyone. I ordered the guards and they took the boys and pulled them out of the imperial box behind me. I stretched my neck, I could see the smoke coming out of the Gate of Death.  
I reached the square in front of the Colosseum, in the shadow of the huge statue of Nero. People were running in all directions. Mothers hysterically holding their children, men pushing and screaming. Members of the Praetorian Guard charged with protecting them released oaths and grabbed their shields, pushing the crowd away. I went directly to the steps of the temple of Venus. Among the confusion of commoner heads, I could see her at the entrance... she was with a dirty boy who was hugging her, pushed him and gave him to a guard while the boy looked at her angrily.  
I approached immediately and held her by the arm with my jaw even more tight, I would end up breaking it myself. For a moment, my gaze crossed that of the boy... interesting, his exotic mahogany eyes were peculiar to me.  
-Caesar," said Persephone stoically without looking into my eyes, "we should go...  
I agreed and turned with her, taking her. When I turned around, the boy and the praetor had disappeared... I would investigate later where she had taken him and what this was all about  
I sent her with a butler to my private palace, the Domus Augustana, and let her luxurious room rot temporarily.  
The fire in the gladiator passages was extinguished. And with that the passages too, by sunset the base of the Colosseum had been torn to pieces and the top fell down like a toy structure praying all over the city.  
Rome's favorite place was destroyed before I could send the praetorian guard over that bastard's head, I could not get it while I was booted and crushed under my imposing collapsed marble amphitheater. I could only have the bitter victory of my own divine rage, which was what broke out, I threw a fit of anger into the air, I was sure, another proof, I was the only Lord and God!

LUNA

-We're going to Tivoli tonight, -I said. -I have a villa there. We'll hide you. Do you know how to take care of the plants?  
-Plants?  
-Yes, plants. I need a new gardener, and you need a job. And another identity, until people forget your face. Let's see... how do you like being Regulus, my faithful gardener?  
-Well, - answered Harry. With the rocking of the bunk he became sleepy. The cat was already nibbling at the silk tassels on the cushions. If we can get there.  
-Of course we'll make it. Nobody's going to search this bunk. I'm the Emperor's niece," I said with a smile. -Why don't you get some rest?... The magnitude of that fire was provoked- I looked at him- intentionally.  
He closed his eyes. Harry the Barbarian was leaving town, dead to the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I know you're having second thoughts, jiji.  
But as the plot progresses they will be relieved


	8. VIII

**The temple of Vesta**

  
_ **ALBUS** _

_From time to time, I would go to the temple of Vesta. Not to give thanks to the goddess of home (I doubt there is a house as cursed as hers), but to pray for Helena._  
_"Here I can feel her presence," she says. The high priestess is my friend. Beneath her white veil hides a spirited spirit. Together, we have collaborated on more than one occasion against some of the emperor's most unpleasant decrees._  
_"Perhaps she is here, Albus Dumbledore."_  
_I extend my arms before the eternal flame on her tranquil altar. "Vesta, goddess of earth and home, watches over Helena's soul. She has always been your devoted servant."_

**92 A.D.**

  
-If you want a villa in Tivoli anyway, buy one," I said without looking up from my scrolls. -You can buy any house you like, as long as I'm not in it.  
-Thank you, my dear.  
I could be rude, I could strike her down with eyes as hard as marble, I could say virulent things over figs for breakfast on the few occasions when we met at home, but in the end she smiled at me with disgusting naivety knowing that I was really in charge of the house. I laughed inwardly at the irony; I was known for my cunning, which was not entirely known to be put to my agreements and movements under the water of the emperor's treaties, I could have complete control of the Senate by my influence...yet it was in the hands of my dear wife. These years I sank even deeper into my work so as not to think about my domestic problems. I had to be patient, if I wanted to take it off my mind...even though I was in control, I could very easily see her aspirations and her motives. People like her were an open book.  
So I would have a village in Tivoli. In Rome she already had her own house, in the most distinguished district of the Palatine Hill, where the best parties in town were held, far from my "boring" domus de, near the Capitoline Library, where she lived with Delphi. In the past, Baiae was fashionable, but the emperor had a villa in Tivoli and, nowadays, if you wanted to be someone you couldn't go anywhere else. So he'd get his own villa, I figured his mourning would last about a month after his father was taken away by a fever in the area - at least he wouldn't have to be so ashamed of him now.  
My daughter spent a week or two with her every now and then, just to keep up appearances. I didn't think it was funny, but in the end she had to give in to her whim.  
Delphi would always return in silence and not at all happy; dismayed by so many scoldings just for breathing inside her mother's house.  
As for the current social gossip, it was quite juicy and squeamish this time. The emperor's wife was doing charity work and had become the refuge of all abandoned wives. Rumors were circulating that the emperor's niece, Mrs. Luna Lovegood, was a Christian-"Yes, one of those dirty fish worshippers. Erotic poetry from Crete had been banned in the name of public morality, but copies were available for a small fee. The high priestess of the vestals had been arrested for impurity - "What a scandal!" - and condemned to be buried alive on the next feast, while her lovers were to be whipped to death... I also took it upon myself to ask Vesta for her. The stolae were taken a little shorter, so that the whole ankle could be seen. Vermilion became the fashion, as did the previously strange and unusual hairstyle; similar to a horse's tail with the odd golden braid - "This is how Persephone, the emperor's concubine, dresses  
Bella had no qualms about uttering insults and criticizing this whenever it was brought up with her many friends. She liked red, but from time to time she wore any other colour that was not close to it, but she tried to make it loud and remarkable so as to make her disagreement visible to everyone.  
That was the only thing I was allowed to gloat over...in itself it was already imaginable her hatred towards the one who abruptly took away her possible place, but recently I finally recognized the familiar face of the woman. None other than the sly slave who first received me into the house of Lestrange. The former lady of Bellatrix Lestrange... had now appeared from nowhere as an invocation and was twice as influential in tendencies and gossip as she herself.

_ **DRACO** _

-I leave the investigation of the vestals to you," said the emperor, handing me a pile of papers. -If your high priestess is corrupt, then your acolytes are too. Corruption always filters down from above.  
-I will investigate it this week, sir," I exclaimed, as I waved my arm in the air.  
-When will you lose the habit of saluting me, boy? -said the emperor, and smiled.  
-Never, sir," I replied, waving again.  
The emperor dismissed me with a tolerant gesture of his hand, and indicated to the usual troop of secretaries to come forward.  
-Get some rest, Draco, it is almost midnight. You soldiers do not have to stay up all night like the emperors.  
-I'm glad," I said, as I picked up the cardboard. -Good night, sire.  
-Good night.  
However, I didn't go straight to bed. Soldiers don't have to stay up all night, but the praetor's prefects do. The guards had to be organised, papers sorted and signed, letters answered, lots of letters.  
At midnight, I rubbed my head, which hurt. Looking sideways at the bed, I saw a crumpled roll on the edge of my desk with a winding, familiar handwriting. I broke the seal with my thumb, and I began to read: "To the Prefect Draco Dumbledore, powerful right arm of the Emperor," Bartemius had written with his crooked lines.  
I smiled and rested my back on the seat. Barty had been assigned from the icy, swampy forests of Dacia to warmer climes and battles, where he had made an impressive reputation despite the hurricane legionnaires, supply cuts, and angry superiors.  
"I'm going to make you jealous," the letter continued. Lots of wine, lots of fighting, pretty girls and even prettier boys. Now that the cats have calmed down, I suppose you're stuck in Rome with papers on your desk. Is the emperor treating you well, bureaucrat?"  
Quite well. Tom gave me work and responsibility, talked and joked with me, trusted me... He was a God, a teacher and a friend.  
"In a few months I'll be back in Rome, and I'll take you to the Colosseum. I haven't seen a good gladiator in a long time. And it seems that it will finally be usable in some way after that catastrophe.. I've discovered that your real father is a kind of cousin on my mother's side. Everyone will be fine in your family, I suppose."  
My brain stopped. Well? No, I didn't think so. Delphi was sad as a sick puppy. My father was polite, always polite, always kind, never reproached me. "Hate me," I wished I could yell at him. "Hate me, please." But instead of insulting me, he asked me:  
-Everything all right, son?  
-Yes.  
-The emperor is being nice to you.   
-Yes, this... Yes.  
-You don't look so good. You have dark circles under your eyes.  
And scratches on your back, and a bite on my shoulder, and my stomach's in turmoil, all because of your wife... Hate me, by the gods, hate me...  
But he looked at me with watchful, troubled eyes. It was easier to look away. I barely went home, just a visit or two a month, to keep up appearances.  
-Damn that Pollia and all her beauty," my disgruntled Aunt Minerva had once told me. Draco, not only have you fallen into her clutches, but she's taking you away from your family.  
-How do you know that? -I asked, surprised.  
My Aunt Minerva lived in retirement in the country with her horses, and was not given to gossip. If she knew...  
-Draco, everyone knows. If you give me your permission, I'll crush that bitch with my cart.  
I went on to read Barty's letter: "Are you still single? I always thought a sentimental goofball like you would be an easy target. I'm sure women fight over the emperor's right arm."  
-Where do you think you're going, Draco? -said Bella's voice, passing as usual from her ears to the pit of her stomach and below. My own body betrayed me while my mind protested amidst groans.  
Bellatrix did not spend much time with me between so much feasting, so much partying, and her other lovers. But from time to time she would send me a brief note: "Tonight." I spent the day looking at the paper, swearing I wouldn't go, but finally my feet dragged me to her door.  
No, there were no other women. Bella had slipped under my skin like a hook.  
-What are you afraid of? The emperor?" Persephone asked me in one of her abrupt and disconcerting insinuations of late.  
-I don't understand what you would want to look for in me or anywhere else when you are here, next to such a man.-Her attitude was really reprehensible to me.  
-The way he spoke gave you away," he hissed, and then he narrowed his eyes and hissed in a lower tone.  
-For your information this thing you want to bring up is called respect, devotion, things you should venture to know about. - She erased her smile and looked sternly. What the hell was she up to? It wasn't a short time I devoted to her in the past to begin with, she was the one who never melted that ice floe. And now here she was, out of nowhere trying this kind of thing when she was almost the empress.  
-Respect, huh? I see... devotion, respect... gratitude, harassment? All of which has provoked Tom into the great Draco... but not his father - it was like she poured her iced wine glass right in my face.  
She smiled with disdain, looking at me like an insect. To many she would look completely normal despite her official slave status.  
\- The slave is you, of yourself and no one else, of your loathsome weakness, and no one tells you so. You are pitied again and again; quite pathetic to be you, Draco. Tell me one thing, if it had not been Bella but me; if it had been your father worthy of your deep respect? and the emperor?  
All that time I was itching to ask myself that question, to dig deep and remove my barrier and automatically expel the memory of those words.  
But time could always be filled with things. I closed my window to the beautiful spring night and my nightmares, and took a papyrus roll.  
"To Major Bartemius Crouch Jr. in Judea," I scribbled. -Here in Rome, all is well..."

_ **LUNA** _

  
-What do you say, Dean? -I said as I crossed the green garden with a shawl over my shoulders and my hair free and flowing.  
He bowed and answered:  
-I've been to the north wing vineyards, domina. The last frosts have spoiled some grapes, and there are some black things on the plants.  
-A pity," I sighed, "those vineyards gave excellent wine a few years ago. Seamus better take a look at them.  
-I'll take care of it," he insisted, stubbornly.  
I had discovered that he loved gardening. However, the plants didn't seem very happy with him, I thought it was funny.  
-Well, I see you're worried about my wine," I said, my tone giving away my little faith in this, but I smiled kindly at him-. How much you have changed, Barbarian.  
He ran a hand through his hair, dyed it blond with walnut extract. He had grown a beard as well, and his gladiator tattoo had disappeared beneath the burn scar. The only link between Harry the Barbarian and the gardener was the lame kitten that hovered between his feet. The other slaves did not recognize him, and in his cabin in the vineyards he could live apart from the rest of the mansion.  
-As much as you enjoy spoiling my grapes," I said, "you don't have to stay. I'm sure you want to rebuild your life. It's been over a year now.  
-I don't mind staying," he said, and shrugged.  
-You can go back to your own country if you like," I added, "to Britain. I can help you with the journey.  
-I know, but it's not time yet.  
That always puzzled me, I understood that Britain was beautiful; although perhaps he was no longer motivated by memories of home that would haunt him. Or maybe he had been a slave for so long that he was not comfortable making his own decisions about his future.  
-I haven't finished what I have to do here yet," he added.  
-And what do you have to do?  
-I don't know," he said uncomfortably, breathing deeply.- I hope the gods will tell me one day.  
Until then he spent his days in the vineyards and his nights before a fire in the company of his cat.  
-You are a strange fellow," I said. -Anyway, if you decide to stay, I'll have to keep an eye on my vineyards. I'm going to stay here all year, I don't want to go back to Rome. The city doesn't need me.  
-And the emperor?  
-All right, I answered, quiet. -Reasy, I guess. The wars in Germania are over and he's always preferred the life of a soldier. But he's fine.  
-With your permission, domina, -Harry excused himself, bowing and picking up his cat.  
-Good evening.  
Well, I had two very unusual brutes at the moment, in fact obtained almost at the same time. The boy brought here almost by Persephone was not at any time a slave to my house as the praetor who brought him had claimed, insisting that the lady of the emperor had recognized him and sent him back after his escape.

_ **DRACO** _

  
I took off my helmet and hung it on my arm. I ran my fingers through the sweaty studs. This year spring had come early and warm. Leaving behind the scorching midday sun, I entered the House of the Vestals, a dark, cool and silent refuge.  
A middle-aged woman wrapped in white cloth approached me in silence.  
-Prefect, have you come to pray?  
-Official business, madam," I said, and handed her a scroll bearing the imperial seal. -I ask you to assist me during my investigation.  
-I see.  
The eyes of the vestal went through my armour, the sword hanging from my belt, and the four praetorians at my back. I felt too big, too manly and too clumsy.  
-I will see to it that you are assisted personally. You know that no man is allowed to enter Vesta's temple alone.  
-It will not be necessary," I said, and noticed another vestal watching us curiously from the other side of the huge atrium.-, I prefer that priestess to accompany us.  
It was always more useful to choose as a guide someone who did not expect it.  
-Come with me, please.  
The youngest vestal approached, looking straight into my eyes.  
-Any problem?  
-No, I just came to ask a few questions.  
I thought the last praetorians that the girl would have seen would be those who came to take her high priestess in chains and bury her alive for breaking her vows. I smiled to reassure her.  
-Don't worry, this time there will be no arrests. Just an informal investigation.  
The girl looked at the older vestal, who nodded.  
-It will be my pleasure to answer your questions, Praetor.  
-I would like to see the House of the Vestals, I have never seen it inside.  
"Get an idea of the place," the emperor had told me.  
-So it was not you who carried out the arrest of our former high priestess?   
-No, that matter was dealt with by the emperor personally.-And this, what is it? -asked the girl, tilting her head. -A check to see if the rest of us are corrupt too?  
-You, are you?  
The girl stared at me before answering  
-What do you know about Vestal Virgins, Prefect?   
-A lot.  
-I doubt it.  
The girl turned around and her white veil rippled in the air. She led me through the long atrium of columns. The still waters of the courtyard pools reflected rows of white marble statues. I instructed my guards to wait for me and followed my guide. The head of the vestal, covered by a white veil, came over her shoulder. Its light body was wrapped in white cloth. She walked quickly and calmly, with her arms crossed. Her sandals made no noise on the marble floor. We left the sunlit atrium and entered a maze of marble corridors.  
-Our rooms," said the girl.  
She opened door after door. The cells were all identical, white marble, and without any decoration. One was occupied by a middle-aged woman, sitting with a very straight back looking at the wall and hardly breathing.  
-What is she doing? -I asked in a whisper.  
-Meditating," said my Guide, and closed the door. -When we have no work to do, we ponder the mysteries. Now, if you will follow me, I will show you where we eat.  
Another naked room in which there was only a long carved table. There was another vestal sitting in front of a plate of black bread and figs, eating without gluttony. She looked up, watched us without getting upset, and then looked away.  
-The study room," my guide announced, opened another door and turned away.  
I could see two young girls with shaven heads seriously studying parchment rolls. They wore white robes and leather sandals. They were miniature copies of their elders.  
-Why do they cut their hair? -I asked as I watched the girls, who were consulting a tablet.  
With their childlike faces and their shaved heads they looked neither female nor male, but something in between, something... not quite human. Despite their young age, they already possessed the slow movements and blank stares of the older vestals.  
-They were stripped of their hair, just as they were stripped of all other worldly possessions. When they become vestals, they can let it grow back.  
I wondered what color hair my guide was hiding under the veil.  
-They are very young.

-They enter between the ages of six and ten, and go through ten years of learning," explained the vestal, closing the door to the study room and moving down the corridor. -Then they must complete ten years of service, and another ten years dedicated to the instruction of novices.  
-What are their tasks?  
-We prepare the flour that is used in all the sacrifices in the city, we collect water from the sacred spring in the courtyard of our temple and, above all, we take care of the fire of Vesta, which is in a way the heart of Rome.  
The girl smiled on the way back to the central atrium with its two rows of white marble statues.  
-There are other tasks, but I am afraid I cannot tell you about them.  
-I understand.  
I studied the statues as I passed by. Ancient vestals, I presume, young and old, carved in marble. There were tall and short, fat and thin, but they all looked alike. The marble vestals that looked at the atrium with serene eyes were no different from the live ones that passed by me to perform their tasks. If the woman who was leading me climbed into a plinth and smoothed her robe, no one would distinguish her from her stone sisters.  
-Would you like to see the temple? -she asked.  
\- Yes.  
It was a simple round room, nothing more. There was an area separated by a discreet curtain in which wills and other valuable documents were kept. Among them was the will of the emperor, as he well knew. But there were no mosaics, no decorations, no bloodstains from complicated sacrifices. Only a bare altar in the center of the temple and a flame burning in a bronze cauldron.  
-Vesta's flame," said my guide, and her voice echoed across the room. The eternal fire. If it were to go out, we would face an accusation of negligence.  
She approached the altar and bowed to the flame with a graceful movement. I remained silent. How many men would have enjoyed the privilege of entering that place of female recollection?  
They don't need us, I thought. They have been able to create a whole world without us, a good and beautiful world.  
-Have you seen everything you wanted to see? -the guide asked me, and cocked her head to the side.  
-Yes.  
The members of the Praetorian Guard were leaving, but I stopped hesitantly at the entrance. My companion, with her arms crossed, seemed reluctant to dismiss me as well. Her eyelashes were a very dark color, and probably her hair, under the veil, would be too.  
-You are happy, aren't you? -I asked suddenly.  
-Yes. And you?  
-Me? Sure...  
-Sure... Will you come back one day, Prefect?  
I hesitated. I had stopped taking notes in the middle of the visit, but the images were engraved in my memory. There was no corruption, no hidden vices, no broken promises.  
-Yes," I replied, "I will come back.

She didn't seem surprised.  
-So long, Prefect.  
-Draco Dumbledore.  
-I am the vestal Astoria.  
-I will return, -I replied politely, -but next time without my guards.  
-I will be here.

I spent the summer on my horse: visiting all the quarters of the Praetorian Guard to supervise the training, taking the emperor's offices to the city, travelling to Tivoli to spend long evenings by the fire in Villa Jovis. Those summers alone in the villa suited the emperor well. He looked more cheerful and relaxed, lolling in his luxurious beds and smiling endlessly. He and Persephone pretended to be a happy couple amidst laughter and gossip in Tivoli.  
-She is a lovely woman," I said one night, after seeing her vermilion skirts retire.  
-Right," said the emperor, as he gazed thoughtfully at the lamps.- She is a slave, and I hate slaves; she is a Jew, and I hate Jews; she is full of secrets, and I hate secrets, she is proud ... and yet it keeps her alive for me.  
I smiled.Despite the harshness of those words, you could see the sweetness in them.  
-I am glad you are with the emperor," I confessed to Persephone the next morning in an attempt to appease her, after Tom had locked himself in the tablinum with his petitions and account books. -You do her a lot of good, Persephone.  
-It seems so,' she replied, tearing a bunch of jasmine from the tree growing by the columns in the atrium. -He reserves his shadows for me, and shows his light to others. He's very bright when he wants to be, isn't he? Sometimes, even with me. But sometimes we stores of emotions would like the opposite.  
-It will be because used to always seeing the darkness first and foremost."  
-I hope you're not asking me to intercede for you, Draco. Aside from not giving way to me, Tom never accepts my advice. He didn't even accept my comments on his hair-health treatise.  
-What did you say to him?  
-That it was unworthy of an emperor to write about hair.  
I burst out laughing and said:  
-He may not accept your advice, but he clearly loves you.  
I could see sudden surprise in her eyes and his stoic composure was broken. But that fleeting image disappeared when, turning her head back, she looked at me indignantly, probably because she realized that she had been joking with me.

-Inept Dumbledore, don't you get tired of getting ideas," he said, and I smiled inwardly with tenderness and happiness at the thought of having crossed another barrier, "tell me, are you in that state because of his search for you next girlfriend?  
-Ah, in that respect, she'll be a young widow of the Le Fay family. Thirty-one years old, she's not a child. And as a dowry she has half a Terracina and half a Tuscany.  
-You're talking about a woman or a horse? -She scoffed. How stupid you men are.  
-Did I disturb you? -It seems that my attempt at conversation might also have some negative points that she might find.  
-Oh, no, how could you? You're one of the most powerful men in town and you don't know anything   
-what's your problem? -I asked her cautiously, but seriously, why did he insist on hating me? Why did he insist on hating everything and everyone?  
-Yes, I'm the one with the problem, not the others. Well, it's a first step before the madness. That's what was thought of Helena, right?  
She stood up impetuously and waved her black silk gown towards the village.  
I wondered if she would ever understand women.  
She wasn't in the village that afternoon.  
-Did she go shopping? -I asked the emperor.  
-He is probably visiting my niece," answered Tom, without looking up from his rolls-. Why don't you send a guard to fetch her? I want her here before dinner.  
-I'll go myself," I said.  
Luna had also played with Helena and him as children. She wondered if she would remember. They once stole a jug of wine from their mothers in the Circus Maximus and got drunk when they were only six.  
The ride to the village of Luna Lovegood cost my bay mare less than a quarter of an hour. I dismounted at the gate and sent my praetorians to the house. I drove my mount myself to the stables at the back of the building. As I turned the corner of the garden, I was stunned.  
Persephone stood at the back of the stable, the silks of her dark robe surrounding like a limbo her figure comfortably kneeling beside another. She looked warmly and ...sweetly ? at a dirty brown slave boy who was clutching the steed-tail of her hair and chatting shamelessly with her as if she were any other friend.  
-You can't go around hitting people. All patience has a limit, and that's why you have to obey Mrs. Luna when she tells you that...  
-that woman is not my mother! And you didn't have to send me here, it's pretty boring, at least I can put those good-for-nothing floripondians in their place.  
-You're lucky to find yourself here "floripondian", then, wasn't it true that you wanted to see me? -said the playful

The two stared at each other in a duel, and in the end the boy sighed.  
-I wanted to tell you about my progress with the sword," he said, "I could show you and...  
I went ahead and called her:  
-Persephone?  
She turned her head abruptly to me. Her look was nothing like it was a second ago.  
-Who is this? -asked the boy, looking at me.  
-No one,'she exclaimed before I could answer. -Go home.  
-But Mother...  
-Don't talk back to me!  
The boy took one last look at me before he left.  
-Who is he, Persephone? -I asked in a low voice.  
-Nobody. What do you care?  
-I care because I'm the prefect of the praetorium and everything that happens in the palace is supposed to be my business. Including what goes on behind the emperor's back.  
The belligerence faded from his gaze for a moment, there was a flash of terror. And then he returned in anger with a threatening gesture.  
-Mind your own business, Dumbledore.  
-I am.  
-You won't say a word.  
-I said, "I said, drawing-. I don't know what right you think you have to address me like that, and I don't know what right you have to order me; all will be useless in preventing from informing the emperor around.   
-If you're going to open your mouth, I'll go and tell him about all the times you visited me as a suitor at The Farm!   
-It's your word against mine.  
-So that's it? The unblemished Prefect Dumbledore will lie cowardly?  
-No more blackmail! That doesn't even compare to the fact that you have a son.  
-Maybe, but I have witnesses all over Brundisium who can help me, and you may not suffer reprisals as great as I do. But I promise you will! You will lose your precious right-hand position at the very least!  
I was unable to think clearly.  
-Reprisals that big? But surely you don't even care that much!  
It is not known-she breathed in, calmed down a bit, 'you never know. Don't tell him... please.  
I looked at her more peaceful face, I looked at where the child had gone, that expression on her face when I was with her I had never seen before.  
Yes, you couldn't tell whether Tom was taking it lightly, or whether he was going to come at you with a crushing blow, and I didn't know why she was causing me so much pity, perhaps because of her obvious bitterness.

-Oh gods," I sighed, brushing my bangs out of my eyes.-I have orders to take you to the emperor's villa as soon as possible, but I'll give you one more hour, okay?  
She looked at me with disdain, but a flash of illusion betrayed her gratitude for this, and then he left by the same road as the boy.  
...Would it be the emperor's? The question came abruptly.  
-Draco Dumbledore!  
I turned around and saw Mrs Luna at the garden gate.  
-I haven't seen you since we were ten years old. Come into the garden, it's getting chilly, and tell me how you're doing.

_ **SEVERUS** _

  
The gardener everyone at Mrs. Luna's villa knew as Dean was on his knees washing his face in the water at the watering hole when someone hidden behind some bushes threw a stone at him that hit him on the shoulder.  
He turned and, in a movement so rapid that I could not even understand it, took the knife he had on his belt and threw himself into the bushes. Among the thorny bushes he grabbed my coarse tunic and pulled it. I tried to knock him down by hitting his knees. He staggered and let me go. I waited excitedly and triumphantly as he finished standing.  
-I knew you were not a gardener," I exclaimed.  
I heard him sigh. The cold autumn breeze had been giving me goose bumps all morning, but now I felt warm. My body temperature was always rising as I prepared to fight.  
-A country man, when frightened, throws his hoe and runs between oaths. He doesn't pull out a knife and attack," I spat to finish him off, and looked him up and down with my arms crossed, "Barbarian.  
He jumped at me, but I dodged him and ran away.  
-I know who you are, you little brat! -he shouted.- I've seen you fighting with Mrs. Luna's children.  
-I know you too. I saw you once at the Coliseum, at your last fight.  
-You don't know what you're talking about," he said, as he bent down to pick up his knife. -My name is Dean, I'm a gardener.  
-I saw the Barbarian...  
-You're imagining things.  
The children I had played with had said the exact same words to me, no way! I wouldn't believe it in a million years... I saw the mighty Barbarian of Barbarians himself before my eyes! And I had hit him with a stone and he had tried to capture me and strangle me, and the best part was that he was alive growing and ruining the plants in the gardens! How surreal; as my mother used to say.  
-You have a lame orange cat, just like the Barbarian," I insisted, "and a scar on your arm just where the gladiator tattoo was.  
-Many people have burns, and many people have cats.  
-I know how the Barbarian moves. I saw him in action! At first I didn't recognize you by your beard, but I always thought you didn't move like a gardener.

My eyes devoured every muscle in sight.  
-Get out of here! -he shouted, sheathing his knife and returning to the trough.  
It was time to beg:  
-Show me.  
-What?  
-Show me! I want to be a gladiator.  
-You have to be very stupid to want to be a gladiator.  
-Well, I want to be.  
-Go away!  
-Come on, you have to teach me. The guards who teach Luna's children teach me, but they're deniers. It's been a year since I learned anything new.  
-I told you to get out of here.  
I jumped on his knees and knocked him down. Then I tried to give him a key while he was screaming:  
-Show me!  
With a movement of the shoulder which, unfortunately, I did not appreciate, the man threw me into the air. In a second I had my knee on my chest and a hand on my throat. My ribs bent under his weight, with my fists I tried to hit him in the solar plexus...well, my emotion was passing to fear, I was sure that I was the record in terms of daring this gladiator, I thought with euphoria. He squeezed my neck, surely my face would be purple by now, but I refused to ask for mercy.  
Finally he let go of me and stepped aside.  
I rose to my feet:  
-I caught you off guard, eh?  
-Come tomorrow.  
-Why not now?   
-I'll go sowing.  
-Okay, suit yourself.  
-I don't care what you think—He warned me—, don't tell the other slaves, or I'll tear your skin off. Got it?  
-You can kill me if I talk,- I promise.- Shall we start?  
-Take out your knife," he said, "very slowly. You have to be able to draw your weapon and have it in your opponent's stomach before he can breathe. Tilt the blade more.  
-Like this? Come on, you're a lefty! So am I. How funny!

_ **DRACO** _

  
-So there was Tom, taking the judge's seat in the court," I said, holding out the hands to me to express himself better, "and the commoner kept swearing that the inheritance had to be for her and not for the plaintiff because he was not her son and heir, as she claimed. So the emperor goes and asks her: "Is that true", to which she replies: "Yes, sir and God". The emperor then said, "Well, then, you can marry him. Come on, you can get married right now and share the inheritance.  
The vestal Astoria laughed and wrinkles formed in her eyes.  
-And what did the woman say?  
-She got down on her knees and begged to be let go. So the emperor confirmed that the litigant was his son, and the inheritance went to him.  
I shook my head.  
-And do you know what the emperor told me afterwards? He told me it was a trick he had learned by reading the jurisprudence of Emperor Claudius. Claudius couldn't have done it better. You should have seen the look on the woman's face when she was ordered to marry her own son. Astoria laughed, and I felt lucky. That girl didn't laugh often. She smiled a lot, slowly and silently, but she didn't laugh. I leaned back in my chair and sighed.  
-Tired? -she asked me, fresh and static with her white robe folded over the white marble walls.  
-I've been very busy lately," I said, smiling.-I wouldn't mind changing for you for a day, and sitting for hours in a white room gazing at a flame.  
-Well, we do more than that, but I admit that our existence is quiet.  
Astoria radiated peace. I had gotten into the habit, over the past few months, of visiting her. The imperial investigation into the vestals had been closed, but I still came every few weeks to talk to her. We sat in the public room in full view (as the canons commanded when a vestal met a man) and talked for a long time in a low voice about matters of little importance.  
-I am going to get married," I confessed one day, suddenly.  
-I had heard something. To a girl from the Le Fay family?  
-Yes, to Morgana Le Fay. The emperor will celebrate our marriage as soon as the augurs find a suitable date. She's a widow. Young, though not a girl.  
-That's all you can say about your future wife? -she asked.  
-I hardly know her. But she seems nice, and I have to marry someone.  
-You do?  
-If I stay single for long, people will start to think I like men.  
-A lot of soldiers like them," she said in a humorous tone.  
I watched her out of the corner of my eye. For a priestess, she was very given to worldly comments.

-Yes, for example, my friend Barty, -I confessed with regret.- He says that men are simpler than women. Maybe he's right, but I'm not like that. I will marry Morgana Le Fay, and I will have children.  
After a brief silence, I asked him:  
-And you, do you never regret not being able to marry?  
-Well... No. I never really thought about it. I was only nine when I was chosen. At that age one doesn't think about getting married. And then the vestals soaked me and I never looked back. Anyway, some vestals get married after their 30th year of service and retire.  
-Seriously? -this time it was me who was surprised.  
-It's not very common. People think it's bad luck to marry a vestal. Our former high priestess intended to marry after she retired but was executed.  
I looked into her eyes.  
-She should have waited, instead of taking a lover.  
-Oh, they weren't lovers. They had known each other for years, but she never broke her vows.  
-The emperor handled the case personally. Do you think he would have condemned her without evidence? You don't know what a good lawyer he is.  
-And you don't know how seriously the vestals take their vows -Astoria spat at him in a sharp tone.  
I opened my mouth to reply, but told myself it was not polite to argue with a priestess.  
-It is not my intention to question a vestal," I said tactfully.  
-Nor is it mine to question an emperor," she added, and a slight smile came to her lips. -We had better not argue.

_ **BELLATRIX** _  
**93 A.D.**

  
Draco's fiancée posed no threat to me. Morgana Le Fay was as sturdy as a pony, with stubby hands and a snub nose. Besides, she was two years older than me. I'd be worried about my stepson falling into the arms of some sly 15-year-old sylph, but that chubby widow was not worth worrying about. We had met once, but I never talked to her much. With the arrival of the new year and the proximity of the Lupercales, the feast of the lovers, the augurs finally set a date for Dracoo's betrothal and that one died as his girlfriend.  
-My dear, what an interesting dress," I greeted her when she came to my house in the clothes she was going to wear to the banquet that was to be held in her honour in the palace.- Blue? A very bold choice, with that skin of yours.  
-Thank you, Bellatrix," she replied in a gentle voice, "could you look at my bracelet clasp? It's very wide.I went over to look at her bracelet. Her sapphires were bigger, bluer and better than mine (I would go to the banquet in blue too).  
-It's not wide, it's fine.  
I looked at her face. Her blue-green eyes were as innocent as a child's. No one would write odes to her beautiful look. I loosened the straps of the stola a little to show more shoulder and arched my neck.  
-Draco will be late, as usual. He's very busy with his duties.  
-Yes, I'm sure he is.  
I was about to launch another attack (this time on her hair, a nondescript dark chestnut gathered with jewels) but then I heard some footsteps crawling behind me and turned to see Albus.  
-Morgana," he smiled, kissing her hand, "I have just received a message from Draco. His guard duty has delayed him and he says he will join us at the Domus Augustana.  
Morgana nodded in agreement. She didn't seem disappointed, which annoyed me. It would have been more fun if she had been madly in love with him, for I could have dropped some clue about how Draco felt about me and tortured her for months with doubt.  
-Father," said Delphi, who appeared in the atrium, "Father, I haven't fixed your robe.  
-That's right," said Albus, bending down so that the little girl could adjust her folds. -Do I have your approval?  
-Perfect.  
-Is she your daughter, Senator? -asked Morgana, turning to Albus and ignoring me.  
-Yes. Delphini, come and meet Morgana Le Fay.  
Delphi offered her toothless smile and said:  
-"I am delighted to...  
-Delphi! You must bow! -I shouted at her. -You're eight years old now, you should know.  
-Bellatrix," Albus said coldly, "Delphi is nine.  
-Well, if it's wrong to be rude at eight, it's worse at nine.  
The little girl bowed and I noticed that she closed her eyes for a moment, as if she were dizzy.  
-If you're going to have one of your fits, you'd better go up to your room," I said, "I don't want you disturbing the guests.  
-I am pleased to meet you, Delphini," said Morgana as my daughter left.- I hope to see you again.  
-Well, now that everything is ready," I said as I covered my shoulders with a light blue cloth, "shall we go?  
Morgana and Albus looked at me. I was well aware of my husband's expression: that cold look of scorn. Morgana's thick face did not conceal her displeasure. But who did they think they were? I ignored them on the way to the palace and opened the curtains of the bunk bed to watch the plebs celebrating the lupercal in the street. It was always a very funny party, with the wildest men running around in loincloths and cracking the whip, and the lovers looking for dark corners. At past lupercals I had four men begging for my favors as a party favor, and they bet I couldn't handle them all... So I slept with all four of them and two others. These lupercals looked like they were going to be more boring.   
The lights of the Domus Augustana were flashing, inviting. Tom used to hold formal banquets in his new palace of huge halls and extravagant fountains, but Draco was honoured to be entertained in the emperor's own residence. Slaves came to collect our cloaks. Free-men adorned for the occasion led us through the glittering corridors to the triclinium, which had been transformed into a feast of orchids, laurel, glittering crystal glasses, and plates of pure gold. The emperor had spared no luxury for Draco. He had even changed his usual robe to a purple one with gold embroidery that was worth more than a month's worth of wheat from Syria.  
-Friends! -exclaimed Tom as he approached to greet us with his bright white face. -I am glad to see you. -Albus was greeted by the emperor with a nod, the bride with a handshake, and I with a kiss on the cheek.  
-You are welcome.  
-Haunted" said the empress, who was wrapped in diamonds and silver with her husband.  
-Sorry to keep you waiting," said Draco as he appeared through the door, smoothing the folds of his robe.  
-It's all right," Tom forgave him, running a friendly arm over his shoulder.  
I wondered if the rumours that the emperor was going to name Draco as his heir were true. Last year, a prefecture, this year, heir, next year, emperor... It was clear that there was no one in Rome closer to Tom than my stepson. Emperor Draco Malfoy, in his nickname Dumbledore. I didn't care about the laws of incest. If I became emperor, I had to marry my husband's son.  
-Come on," said Tom, joking, as he saw Draco shyly holding Morgana's hand.- Kiss the bride!  
Morgana offered him her cheek, and Draco, blushing, bent down and kissed her. He looked at me, and I threw him a mocking kiss. He looked away in shame.  
-Draco," said Albus, "it is good to see you, son. We haven't seen each other for a long time.  
-Father.  
They came closer, avoiding each other's eyes, and gave each other a brief embrace. Draco turned away as if he had been burned, his cheeks red. I got the giggles.  
We had just settled down on the beds of silk cushions when a torrent of food, music and artists appeared. Mountains of frosted fruit in silver bowls, roasted peacocks with their vibrant feathers still in place, honey-coated piglet stuffed with sage, rosemary and pieces of meat. Percussionists, dancers, Corinthian choristers with their angelic voices, agile dark-skinned acrobats climbing up to the ivory roofs on the shoulders of their companions... The slaves would fill the plates as soon as we finished them and Tom would urge us to eat more and more. He gestured with a turkey neck in his fist, dripping fat on his expensive purple cloak, and I realized that he was drunk. The old phalanx was running around the tables like the Tiber. As the temperature rose, it seemed more natural to let my hair down and drop the stola to show a shoulder. This was more like real lupercals!  
The emperor told stories about Draco's bravery and proclaimed to the four winds that he was the best friend a man could have. Draco, his eyes glazed over, tried to keep up with Tom, glass after glass. Morgana's cheeks were red and her dress was wrinkled from all the uncomfortable shuffling around in her bed. It was very hot, there was too much food and too much wine, and the music added a mischievous touch to the torrid atmosphere. The emperor presided over the feast like a huge, puffy god as we continued to fill our cheeks with food, pour wine down our burning throats, and laugh hysterically.  
Albus stood cold and unmoved by my side. I looked at him, dizzy with alcohol, and noticed that his eyes were directed neither at the emperor nor at his son, but at the empress who, with the same gesture, did not avert her eyes from him. There was something strange in that tense, calculated look, but the room began to spin around me. Everything seemed funny to me, and I could not stop laughing at the sweat that soaked Morgana's face. I emptied another glass of wine, pouring half of it onto the tiles, and lay down with laughter. The stola came loose from the other shoulder, leaving my chest exposed, and Draco's eyes locked on me.  
-The engagement ring! -roared the emperor. -Draco, don't tell me you haven't given it to the bride yet? Here, let me.  
He grabbed Morgana's trembling hand and slipped a ring with a sizeable emerald onto the wrong finger.  
-That's it! -Fiancée! You may kiss her now, Draco.  
Draco planted a shy kiss on Morgana's lips.  
-No, not like that! -exclaimed the Emperor. "I suppose I'll have to do it for you.  
Tom grabbed Morgana and kissed her, smashing her lips against the girl's teeth. The muffled scream of the bride disappeared amidst the music.  
-Caesar," said the empress, opening her mouth for the first time in the whole dinner, "you are frightening the poor woman.

-Scaring her? -asked Tom, with a scowl. "What do you know about kissing? You're like a stone. You wouldn't melt if I threw you into a volcano, you scheming...  
The empress rose without mussing her hair.  
-Thank you all for a lovely evening," she said aloud. Albus, domina Bellatrix, prefect Dumbledore, domina Morgana, have a good night.  
-That's it," scoffed the emperor as his wife left, "get out of here, you frigid bitch.  
He gestured abruptly to a page and with blurred eyes I watched him empty a packet of crushed leaves into the wine amphora.  
-What is that? -I asked, laughing.  
-Some herbs... from the Lydia,' said Tom, emptying his glass in one gulp. They make... They make you see colours. Draco, here. And you, Morgana.  
-I don't want to," she protested.  
-Drink! -cried the emperor. He put the cup in his hand and spilled half the wine on her precious dress.  
The woman drank timidly. I stretched out my arm and snatched the cup from her. I felt Albus' disgusted look as he emptied the remains of the drink. Old phalanx with something bitter at the bottom.  
-Well," the emperor announced, his forehead sweating. -It's nice here. It's warm, we have music... Bring me Persephone!  
Suddenly I felt very hot. The tiles were shaking and moving as if they had come to life. I felt hotter and hotter and my body felt sluggish.  
-Oh, Gods, I get dizzy," said Morgana, falling out of bed and vomiting beside a pink marble statue of Artemis bathing.  
I felt a movement in the bed beside me and saw Albus rise.  
-Caesar, I think I'm going to accompany Morgana home, she's not well.  
He helped the woman up, grabbing her by the elbows, and turned to her son:  
-Draco...  
But Draco was kneeling on his bed, panting and his pupils dilated as he said to me with his heavy tongue:  
-"You are beautiful... You are beautiful.-Good evening," said Albus, and helped a wobbly Morgana out.  
Draco's blond locks moved, squirming like silvery snakes. I pushed him away with one finger before I was bitten. He squirmed and grabbed me by the wrists, hurling himself over my neck and shoulder.  
-Persephone! -roared the emperor.  
Over Draco's shoulder, I saw Hermione enter, wrapped in saffron-coloured silks and her hair free and flowing. At first it was just a speck at the end of a tunnel, and then suddenly it became huge, I found it hard to see that it was not a lion on a rope, but a female form taken by human arms of guards. The stone in her throat became a gigantic black mouth. As Draco tried with clumsy fingers to open the clasp of my stola, the emperor held Hermione's arm so tightly that his fingers were marked on her lover's skin.

-Drink! -he ordered, putting his glass in her mouth.- Drink, let's see what kind of goddess you are.  
As she choked on the wine, Tom kissed her, devouring her with his lips and hands.  
My stola was torn. Draco was panting and sweating all over me. I stuck my nails into him, making his blood change color before my eyes. I saw the emperor doing something to Hermione, who was half-naked with her head buried in the cushions, and vaguely remembered that a few seconds ago she had tried to throw a piece of glass at him that fell to the other end.  
Draco was a piece of warm meat on me, with drops of sweat as large as diamonds falling from his face. His eyes were two dark pits. His mouth, a dying hole. I turned my head, dizzy, to look at Hermione, crushed under the weight of her own sweaty beast. She opened her eyes and our glances crossed.  
As she stared at us, our bodies twisted. The world cleared up around her face, that rosy, hateful face that was barely a foot away. Her lip was bleeding. Her hair was a tangle of sweat and silver chains. Her eyes were dilated by the effect of the drug. He hated her... he hated her... I caught a similar gleam of distaste in her eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that we were both being harpooned by male flesh, we would have jumped down each other's throats. Between pushing and shoving, we stretched out our arms. His hand squeezed my fingers, trying to break my bones. I dug my nails into his knuckles, never taking my eyes off him. Those eyes were the last thing I saw before my head exploded with color.

_ **ALBUS** _

-I'm getting dizzy again," twitched Morgana, clutching my shoulder.  
-It's all right, throw up," I said to my future daughter  
Morgana gagged and bumped into the door frame. I straightened her out and told her:  
-"Let's go to the atrium. The fresh air will clear you.  
-I have... to go home.  
-First sit down a bit.  
She went out into the atrium and dropped onto the first bench, with her head down. I called a slave and asked for a jug. When they brought it to me, I offered the girl a drink.  
-Drink.  
-No, not more wine... I can't.  
-It's water. Drink some.  
She drank. Four hours earlier, she was a beautiful young girl with a new blue dress. Now she looked pitiful, full of wine stains, with her hair disheveled and loose, and she had lost an earring. She looked at herself and blushed, rubbing a vomit stain on her dress.

-Oh, gods. I look like a...  
-Don't worry. How do you feel?  
Morgana drank more water and responded:  
-My head looks like Vulcan's anvil.  
-It will pass. You've already vomited most of the drug.  
-Thanks for getting me out of there.   
-You seemed a little out of it.  
She shrugged her shoulders, and I remembered her frightened face as the emperor's mouth, with its moist lips and sharp teeth, threw itself into hers.-Is it always like that? -she asked.  
-No," I replied, and sat beside him on the marble bench.- Tonight was a little... exceptional.  
-I can't go back in there," she said, rubbing her dress uselessly.- Never.  
-You've seen the worst face of the emperor today. Tomorrow, when the effect of those Indian herbs wears off, he will have forgotten all about it and will treat you as he does all women: he will ignore you.  
-I don't want to go back.  
-As Draco's wife, you'll have to.  
-Then I won't marry him,' she said, but then she looked at him and excused herself. -No, it's not because of him. Draco's very nice when he's not...  
gawking at his stepmother?  
-I'm sure he's not very interested in marrying me, and I can't... I couldn't bear that life of feasting, drinking and Indian herbs. My family may have made a name for itself since the Republic, but I'm still a country girl. I was raised in Tuscany, among vineyards, horses and pools. Marrying the prefect of the praetorium is supposed to be important to me, but I don't see myself in a palace. At least, not in this kind of palace.  
I thought the girl was going to cry, but she controlled herself and looked away. She was a country girl but of patrician origin.  
Measuring my words, I said:  
-You may not believe me, after what you've seen tonight, but that's not Draco's world either.  
She looked at me.  
-My son is simpler: a soldier, an idealist, a good Roman. His position as prefect is a great honor, but he's letting himself go. If someone could help him settle down, I'd appreciate it.  
-Do you want me to take care of that? -No.  
-I think you could get it, -I said, seriously. -You're a good and honest girl, Morgana Le Fay. It doesn't take much to know you to realise that. My son needs a girl like you, and he knows it.  
-Maybe he does," she said, and folded a fold of stained silk between her fingers, "but it's not what he wants. What he wants is...

She bit her tongue just in time. She hadn't known Bella long, but in this case it wasn't necessary either to realize what was going on.  
I looked at her straight out. Yes, your fiancé loves my wife, I thought.  
We both looked away.  
-Can I ask you a favor? -I said, in the same formal tone I used when quoting a point of law in the Senate. - Think carefully before Syou decide not to marry my son. That's all I'm asking.  
She looked at me as she played with the emerald between her fingers, and I thought she was going to take it off right there. But, instead, he offered me his hand.  
-All right, Senator.  
-Call me Albus, please, -I said, holding his hand between mine and smiling. -And thank you.

SEVERUS  
-You're late," said the Barbarian.  
-I had to brush the horses.  
-Ran around the vineyard twice to warm up. Then we'll start with exercise number five.  
We were training in the spring rains, slipping in the mud puddles. When summer came, we continued to do so under the scorching midday sun, with sweat soaking the handles of our wooden weapons. We practiced until my muscles screamed in pain, until my bones cracked, until the palms of my hands cracked.   
Although I had been a gardener for a considerable time, I was just as deadly as before... what would it have been like to face him in the sand?  
-When will I ever wield a real sword? -I complained.  
-When you earn it -grunt.  
-I've already earned it!  
-Demonstrate it to me.  
I launched a high attack, but his sword repelled me, ripping mine out of the hands, and he threw me to the ground.  
-You're taller, that's no good," I protested.  
-If you had taken a step forward and attacked me from below, you could have unbalanced me. If you keep fighting like an old man, you'll die soon. If you fight like the ten-year-old you boy are, one day you will beat someone. Stop trying to impress me.  
I took an oath, and I asked him:  
-Another fight?  
We were spinning around a bit, gun in hand. I bent down to dodge his sword, and I threw myself into his side. The barbarian staggered for a moment, and I took the opportunity to place the tip of my wooden sword on my rival's chin.  
-Much better," he congratulated me.- Again.  
-All right, but this time control your blows.  
I tried to repeat the movement, but this time I hit a shoulder as hard as a wall. I quickly turned the sword, but he grabbed my arm. I lost my balance and my shoulder became dislocated. I howled in pain.  
-Lie on your stomach and raise your arm!  
-What arm? You ripped it off, bastard.

-Stop whining.  
He put his foot on my sword, grabbed my unraveled arm and pulled it back into place.  
-Come on, you can get up now and go throw up.  
-I never vomit," I protested as I stood up and bent my elbow.- I can still hold it for another hour.  
-Then take this," he said, and handed me his sword.  
I held the hilt in both hands, losing my balance.  
-Wow! How heavy it is!  
-Too much for a child, really. But it will make you strong. If you learn to fight with this sword, you can fight with anything.  
-Yes, sire.  
I turned the edge of the weapon in the sunlight, admiring the sharp steel.  
-People said you fought with a ray for a sword and a cloud for a shield.  
-People are fools. Let's go with exercise number two, but this time do the move slowly. It will help you gain control.  
-That's how they taught you in gladiator school? -I asked as I moved the heavy sword inch by inch with great effort, very slowly.  
-No, that's how my brothers taught me. Next week we will start with races and weights. You're fast, but you lack stamina. Do it five more times, and slower.  
-Why don't you like being a gladiator? -I asked as I slowly raised my sword.  
-It's a disgusting profession.  
-Well, I think it's fun.  
-You're young and you've been to the games too much.  
-Well, actually I've only been once. My mother says they're a spectacle for savages.  
-Your mother seems like a smart woman. -Start again! Slow down.  
-My arm's going to fall off!  
-That means you're doing fine.  
-Bastard!  
-Crying -he scoffed. -Another ten times.

_ **DRACO** _

  
-Astoria," looking with tired eyes at the vestal who greeted me with a reproachful gesture. -I need to see Astoria.  
-The vestal Astoria is busy with her ritual duties.  
-Make her come. These are orders from the prefect of the praetorium.

I leaned against the marble wall of the temple, ignoring the scandalized looks of the faithful. I was aware of what I looked like: unshaven, red eyes, dirty... It had been months since my wedding feast, but I still felt the need to get drunk every night to forget what I had done.  
-Prefect? -said Astoria. 'Is something wrong? I haven't seen him for months.  
Since that banquet I have felt too ashamed to visit you. I didn't have the strength to look her in the eye. If I hadn't had a little to drink that afternoon, I wouldn't have had the courage to be there.  
-I'm sorry," I said, opening my eyes with difficulty. -I had... I had to see you.  
-I understand. -She looked up and down at me, and I expected to find a face of disgust. It must be something important. Sit down.  
-Can we... Can we go somewhere quiet?  
The looks of rejection from the other vestals bothered me.  
-I am only allowed to talk to men in public," she said, and sat down before me and smoothed her white robe. -Tell me.  
I let myself fall, and sank my aching head into my weary hands.  
-I am... a worm," I said with difficulty.  
Better to get it out as soon as possible.  
-I can see that.  
-Are you making fun of me?  
-Oh, no.  
-I don't blame you," I said, mortifying me. "I'm dirty, I'm scum... Persephone thinks the same thing, she's always right.  
-Very good. Can you stop insulting yourself?  
-I love my father's wife.  
-Well, that's something I didn't expect.  
It was like a weight off my mind. I hunched over, leaning on my knees.  
I don't... I don't know if it's love. Or, at least, not like I expected. But I can't stop wishing for it. She's more than beautiful. It's like a drug. And she's evil. She's evil personified. I swear she's the one who started it. I know all the men say the same thing: "She tricked me, it was all her fault." But she set it all up to get back at my father.  
-And your father knows this? -asked Astoria, in a quiet voice.  
-Yes, -I replied, and tried to put the memory out of my mind. -He discovered us. I still don't dare look him in the face.  
-So she has won, has she?- She added, given the lack of response, she added "Why do you need to confess it? Why now?  
-Because she won't let me, and she won't ever stop. She snaps her fingers and I crawl to her like a dog. She knows, and so does my father. Gods, even my fiancée knows!  
I got my hair caught. I'd only seen Morgana a couple of times since the feast, and her eyes, when she looked at him, were aware.

I told her everything: the banquet, the emperor, the Indian drug, Bella...  
-I took it, right there, on the bed, in front of everyone, like an animal. The drug was partly to blame. I didn't own myself. But I have no excuses. I'm just glad my father wasn't there for that show.  
-And the emperor said what? -she asked, that she seemed to be talking about the weather instead of a palace orgy.  
-He didn't notice. He was with his lover, we were all drunk from the wine and that thing he poured into the glasses.  
-His lover? -she asked in a surprised voice.  
-Persephone... A singer. She's a good girl, but tough and temperamental. And I remember that the emperor...  
I bit my tongue. There are some things you can't say to a vestal, no matter how much you want to tell them.  
-What? What do you remember?  
My head exploded at the sharp tone of her voice.  
-I don't know what I remember. I don't know if it's true or if I dreamt it, but...  
-But what?   
-She and the emperor... I wasn't looking, but the emperor did some things that... I'm sure it was the effect of the drug! How do I know if what I saw was true or was it hallucinations? I thought I saw snakes hanging from the ceiling, the mosaics coming to life, her blood turning green... Who knows what really happened?  
-Did you see that woman again? That would prove something.  
-The emperor would never harm her, -I said, avoiding looking into her eyes. -He loves her.  
-Maybe, but do you think that for all men, love is just moonlight kisses? For some, love is pain.  
-Astoria," I said, getting serious, "I have not come to hear you stain the name of my emperor.  
-Then why did you come?   
-I don't know. To make a confession? I need someone to know what I am. People look at me and see a hero in me. The emperor's right-hand man. But it's all a lie. I'm as stupid as my father is brilliant. As cowardly as I am brave, my friend Bartemius. I am... an impostor.  
-Well, you've already confessed. What do you want now? Forgiveness ?  
I nodded slowly.  
-Well, I'm sorry, Draco, but that can only be granted by the gods.  
It was the first time she'd ever addressed me by my name.  
-So, consolation? -I babbled, looking at her with humility.  
-I can give you that.  
Her fresh hand soothed my confused blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
Here's another chapter out of the oven  
I'll be working on correcting mistakes and decorating the writing more  
Nice day


	9. IX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated with love to all those who have followed me so far<3

TOM  
Year 95 A.D.

-Another year, Persephone. Let's drink to it.  
-As you wish, César.  
I took a sip from my glass, with her sitting where I liked: at my feet, so I could caress her head or pull her hair, depending on my mood.  
-For the new year, -I said. -How long have we been together?  
-Almost four years.  
-Four years... They say that the plebs call you the "concubine of Rome"," I said. My hand stopped behind my neck. -I suppose they are partly right, for I am Rome, and you are my lover. But I still don't like it. Four years have passed and I know as little about you as I did on the first day. Do you know the signs of the new year, Persephone?  
-No, what are they?  
-It will be a year of unveiled secrets.  
-I have none.  
-It seems to me that you are hiding many. Tell me one.  
-Alas! Very well, I will tell you," she exclaimed with her typical sullen but satirical gesture. -I was a month ago taking a walk through Vesta's temple and a priestess looked at me.  
—¿And?  
-And I pitied her.  
-Is that a secret?  
-I thought it was important.  
-The pity of an old dry virgin? She would be jealous. Tell me another secret.  
-Why don't you tell me one, I'm more interested in it than you think.  
-So shall I tell you one? About the gladiators you served when you were eighteen? Yes, I've heard about that.  
-I... never...  
-You are bad at lying, Persephone. Bellatrix Dumbledore says you always lied.  
-She'd give her soul for my place, Caesar," she said, after soothing a chuckle that escaped her.- And well, she hates me with a passion.  
-Right, that's more than obvious. But she's a good source of information about you. Tell me, what was the Barbarian like in person?

She lifted her head and looked straight at me as she had done the first time. It meant that I touched her fiber again, she was playing hard to get; but that I had pierced every part of her interior was a fact. I smiled.  
-Seemingly it was your best conquest. The gladiator they called the god of war. A great achievement for a common slave. How much did he pay you?  
—... He never... -and to my shattered delight she trembled. But not of fear.  
-Well, then it was love. How sweet! The Barbarian and the Jewess You squirmed and laughed for him, as you do not for me?  
-Ouch!   
-It hurt you more to see him walk to his death, didn't it? Did it hurt you as much as this?  
-...-Her head, which was already in my lap, was still, trying to imitate my wife's expression.  
-I think I don't have to be jealous of him anymore, but now I almost wish he was alive. Just so I could look him in the eye and tell him I'm sleeping with his woman. Twice in one night, if I feel like it; and that he carries my mark and lives on my gold...  
She threw her glass against the wall, bounced and made a soft sound.  
-What do you want from me? Why don't you just take it?  
-Wow, is my goddess of the Underworld finally collapsing? What else would I ask but your gray presence on the throne! Don't hold back, cry. I like tears in a woman. You have been good today. You deserve a prize. Do you want one?  
-Why? -she replied, half scattered on top of me with no energy, without having to think about the meaning of her question I added triumphantly after 4 years:  
-Don't you want your prize? Well, then I will tell you one of my secrets. Yes, it seems to me the fairest thing to do - to lean back and lift her completely, cooing her like a baby. I've told you a lot about my brother, haven't I? Gellert the Albian, the beloved of the people, who disappeared so tragically in the prime of his youth... I killed him. White arsenic in his wine. Yes, I killed my brother and took his daughter. I think Helena suspected something. Maybe that's why she went crazy. You, would you go crazy? I doubt it. You're too tough to go crazy. You're the first person I've told. I guess from now on I'll have to keep an eye on you. I can't let you get away with a secret like that, can I?  
I passed on my drink.  
-Drink, Persephone, drink," I exclaimed happily, "a new year begins.

DRACO

-Why do you think I am so deluded? -asked Astoria, amused.  
-I can see that you are very adapted to this site, but I think it was a matter of luck. You were put here when you were nine years old, you didn't know if it was worth giving up on marriage, on having children, on... everything else. At that age you don't know anything about the world.  
-I knew it was a great honor to be chosen to be part of the Vestals. And, in a sense, I am more powerful than you.  
-How," I asked, chin resting on my hand and looking at it.  
-Everything that comes out of my mouth is believed in an absolute and total way, because the word of a priestess is sacred. Can you say the same?  
-No," I admitted.- No matter what I say, people always think that I am a twisted person.  
-Wherever I go, I feel safe, because whoever attacks a priestess will face the wrath of her goddess. Can you say the same?  
-Well, no. This year I have suffered two assassination attempts. When the emperor chose me he left many others behind; I made a lot of enemies.  
-If I meet a man condemned to death on the way to the scaffold, I can grant him a divine pardon that even the emperor cannot revoke. Can you say the same?  
-Can you? -I said, entertaining-Can you forgive a criminal, just on a whim?  
-It is not on a whim, but out of divine conviction. Only if Vesta whispers in my ear that the man is innocent.  
-And does she do so often?  
-Sometimes.  
Astoria crossed her arms, adopting the gesture of a goddess, but a slight smile came to her lips.  
-Well, I guess you beat me," I said, leaning back. -Can you gallop against a horde of noisy, blue-painted savages, though?  
-No," she answered, seriously. I'd get my veil dirty.  
-Then let's call it a draw," I said, and clasped my hands behind my head.  
-Draco.  
-What?  
-You're showing off.  
-Maybe.  
-Why should you be presumptuous to a woman who has taken a vow of chastity?  
-Because I want you to have a good impression of me.  
-I already do, Draco Malfoy. You don't have to brag.  
-Okay. Can I ask you something?  
-Of course.  
-Have I impressed you?  
Astoria laughed and I looked down at the floor.  
-Did I impress you? -I insisted.  
-Very much so.  
-Really? -I asked, and felt like a child.  
-I am a vestal, Draco," she said, laughing again. -My word is sacred.

SEVERUS

The sword slipped out of the gardener's hands and, spinning gracefully, landed in the spring mud.  
I gazed at it in silence for a few moments, and then I raised my sword and shouted:  
-Yes! I have disarmed the Barbarian! Yes! I am a god!  
I let out a battle cry that frightened the crows in the vineyard. The lame cat, curled up in the shade on her master's old cloak, raised her head for a moment and then went back to sleep.  
-You were lucky," he said.- Try again.  
Smiling, I took up a fighting stance again, raising my sword. He launched a lateral thrust. I blocked it, bent down and hit back, moving my trained muscles from one blow to the next. I shunned the melee in the face of my opponent's superior strength, and trusted my speed. Now I was very fast.  
Only when the watery spring light was lost beyond the vineyard did we stick our swords in the ground and sit down.  
-Tomorrow we'll start working with the shield," he said as he passed me a pitcher of water. -It takes quite a bit of getting used to the weight.  
-What kind of shield?  
I looked up excitedly. I had heard that the shields reflected the level of a gladiator: the big ones for the big sword murmur; the small, round ones for the curved-edged short sword thraex. The retiarius of net and trident had no shield. It was my turn... of the lowest of the low.  
-A big one, you're going to be a heavyweight.  
He studied me with a judicious look. Although I was no longer inhibited by the fact that I was intimidated by the giant, it was now almost over his shoulder.  
I soaked my face with the water from the jug and dried my forehead with my arm, a gesture I had copied from him. I had also cut my hair like him and had started asking to be allowed to drink wine without water.  
-Do you know that my mother is coming to visit? -I said. -She has written a letter to Mrs. Luna.  
-When is she coming? -he asked, and filled water into a bowl for the cat.  
-Next month, at the end of May. You don't know her, do you?  
-No.  
-It's disgusting," I commented, annoyed. -She's stuck-up and bossy, always right. Hey, one last fight before it gets dark?  
-Why not?  
-I'm going to disarm you again.  
-Don't be a show-off.  
He held a smile and gave me a slap on the wrist.

ALBUS  
I had just walked down the steps of the Capitoline Library when Morgana Le Fay called me.  
-Albus! Is that you?  
-Morgana - stepping away from the rental bunk next to which I had stopped to talk; I smiled at my future daughter-in-law.  
The woman covered her shoulders with a blue palla. Behind her, two slaves followed her with a fan and a parasol. She was carrying a basket hanging from her arm, like any Roman housewife.  
-What a pleasant surprise! -I greeted her.  
-Am I interrupting you? -she said, pointing to the rental bunk.  
A white female hand full of diamonds had just closed the gray curtains and the porters left at a trot.  
-Not at all," I replied, without giving any further details.  
I changed a lot of hand rolls and leaned on my bad side as an angry looking commoner ran after her children. It was a bright spring morning, and all the women of Rome were gathered in the forum.  
-What brings you here, Morgana Le Fay? Shopping?  
-Yes, I've come to get some earrings. I lost a stone from my jade earrings.  
-Buy yourself some aquamarines instead.  
-Sorry?  
-Aquamarines -I advised her. -You have beautiful green eyes. A jewel of the same shade but darker near them will make them look like a gem. Do you see Draco lately?  
-No... He is very busy.  
-My son has been neglecting you, hasn't he? -I asked.  
-Oh, no," she answered, nervously.  
-Yes, he does. Has he gone to see the augurs to find a date for the wedding?  
-Yes, we planned to go at the end of September, but my mother was so sick that we decided to postpone it.  
-Is she feeling better?  
-Yes, she is now. You see it's not Draco's fault. Just bad luck.  
-He could try harder," I said sternly.- After two years of commitment, no matter how much bad luck you have had, your family has the right to look for another man for you.  
-Not when the emperor wants this marriage. And, furthermore - a smile formed in Morgana's clear eyes - my father said that he was letting me choose my second husband, and I want to marry Draco.  
I felt a fit of anger towards my stepson. He had that good girl: beautiful, educated, intelligent, understanding; waiting for him, but he did not dare to take the step.  
-I'll talk to him," I said.  
-No need, Albus. I don't mind, really.  
Her slaves stirred restlessly behind our backs, adjusting the parasol over their mistress' head, but the woman did not seem to be in much of a hurry.  
-Are you coming from the library? A week ago I was reading a treatise of yours, the one about the system of adopted emperors.  
-Really? -I said, smiling. -What did you think?  
-I think it's very well reasoned. But I don't agree that the Senate should have the right of veto. If the Senate can revoke the emperor's authority, who will respect it?  
-What if the emperor doesn't make the right decisions?  
The discussion did not wane for half an hour, until finally Morgana said:  
-I think I have to leave, my mother will be worried.  
-Are you coming to dinner next Thursday? -I asked, smiling and straightening my back against the wall.- I'll try to get that son of mine to come.  
-It will be a pleasure. And I'll buy those aquamarine earrings.  
-Put them on when you come to dinner.

DELPHI

-I asked, jumping on my father's lap before he had even sat down at his desk. I like it. Her clothes are always soft, don't itch, and are delicate. And she's very nice. She has a niece with epilepsy, and she's taught me some breathing exercises for when she has a headache.  
-Seriously? -he asked   
-I like that she is going to marry Draco. I wish they would come and live here.  
-Why shouldn't I?  
-Mother wouldn't let him. She doesn't live here either, but I wouldn't let her come and live with us," I answered candidly. -She hates Morgana.  
-Why do you say that?  
-Mother doesn't like beautiful women, like Aunt Minerva. She hates Aunt Minerva because she is very beautiful and men look at her more than at her. Morgana is also beautiful and mother will not allow her to come and live here.  
She laughed and said:  
-You are a little devil.  
-Mother could move forever to Tivoli, because the emperor spends a lot of time there. So Morgana would come more to visit us.  
-You see many things, don't you, Delphini?  
-Because nobody notices me," I answered with a serene smile. - You'd be surprised how many things I find out.

DRACO  
TÍVOLI

-Good afternoon, Persephone -taking a formal bow-. The emperor has asked me to inform you that he has been forced to stay in the city. In two days he will meet with you.  
I looked away so as not to see the frank expression to this.   
-Then I can go to Luna's villa," she said, going to get her palla. -Sirius, prepare the litter. Draco, will you take me? With a praetor to clear the way, I'll be there in a quarter of an hour.  
-I should not.  
-Excellent, I can manage then.  
-Not to be away from you, let alone go somewhere unprotected.  
-Well said, let's go. Of course, if your right hand has any conflicting opinions, you can debate them when the emperor arrives, and we will attend to the inconveniences that come our way as good and honest as we are.  
I looked at her. Persephone, the imperial lover, wrapped in topaz, gold and silk soft as clouds, her neck surrounded by a dark red silver necklace that stood out in her attire with the dark stone; she looked like a mark of the Underworld. I thought of that alcoholic party and of that macabre image; I thought of the mother who, in a dusty stable, smiled and scolded her son at the same time.  
-All right," I said finally, "I'll take you to Mrs. Luna's house.  
Her face became engrossed in approval, and I could not continue to look at her face.  
In silent weariness of being an eternal rag of women.  
-Is it much longer? -she asked, reminding me of a little girl.  
-We are almost there," I answered, thinking of the emperor, who that same morning had looked at me with confidence and, why not, with a certain affection, before saying, "What would I do without you, Draco?  
You were born to serve," Remus had told me when he read my horoscope. To be the emperor's right-hand man, but not to be an emperor.  
I never thought that serving an emperor was an easy task, but I didn't imagine it was so hard.  
Astoria, tell me what I can do.  
-Persephone! -Luna greeted her from the door of the village, flanked by her children and the usual crowd of child slaves.- How long! Yes, yes, Severus is fine. He's with Dean, as always. He's been doing nothing else lately.  
-Nice to see you, Luna! -she said, stepping out of the bunk before the slaves laid her down.- Is he around? I, have never told you how grateful I am.  
-I've had a good feeling about you since before you brought the boy here," said Luna, pointing to the north end of the garden, where a tall figure had just appeared next to a shorter one. -Jupiter and Mars, in the flesh.  
-Severus! -cried Persephone, picking up her pink silks and going towards the two figures.  
The boy stopped, and shot towards her. They met halfway.  
-Mother," he said, and struggling out of her embrace, "I suppose I have no choice but to take someone. It's my friend Dean.  
He pointed to the gardener, who was leaning against the garden wall.  
-It's a long story, I'll tell you. He's teaching me some combat tricks... Mother?  
I was about to leave, but I stopped to look. Persephone had been left standing in the middle of the road, staring at the man, immobile like a statue.  
I followed her eyes. The gardener, an ordinary man, with his dirty mud coat and dark beard, watched the elegant woman with her silks, gold and jewels.  
Persephone staggered and fell, and I prepared to approach her.  
-Mother? -said the boy, surprised.  
Slowly the gardener advanced, raising his huge calloused hand towards her.   
A muffled sound came from Persephone's throat.  
-Mother? -repeated Severus, in a low voice.  
-Hermione," said the gardener.- Hermione.  
She took his hand without holding it. She was shaking like a leaf.  
The gardener held it firmly but softly. Looking down at her from above, she was perched on one leg.  
I couldn't say who moved first, but the gardener's arms wrapped around her figure and she wrapped herself around the man's neck, feeling his hair and shoulders.  
Luna was the first to react.  
-God! -she exclaimed, clapping her hands. -Very good. Everybody go home. Kids, go home. Draco, you can go. Severus, go fight someone. I suppose your mother needs to spend some time alone with your father.  
-Father? -The word came out of the boy's lips and mine at the same time.  
-Well, I guess that must be Dean," she said, looking at him thoughtfully.- I thought you reminded me of someone. And I've had it right under my nose all this time, in my own village. I've been a little slow lately.  
Severus looked simultaneously at his mother and the gardener. Suddenly, he looked very small and insecure.  
-Home," Luna ordered lovingly.  
He walked in like a sleepwalker. The emperor's niece turned to me and asked:  
-Well, don't you have anything to do?  
-I am supposed to watch her,"I exclaimed, pointing to Persephone, who seemed to be whispering quick explanations to the gardener. -Who is that?  
-Severus' father, I think. Don't they look alike? It's surprising we haven't noticed it before. Go on, Draco! Go and come back in a couple of hours.  
-I can't.  
-Why?  
-I am at the service of the emperor, always. I cannot leave this woman with another man.  
-You're going a little fast, aren't you? You've been together for five minutes and already you're making up a love story.  
-And what do you want me to think about this?  
The gardener had his hands buried in her hair and his bottom buried in her shoulder.  
-Oh, shut up," Luna cut me. Think what you want. When you were five years old you were a prude, and I can see that you are worse now.  
She went home and I was left not knowing what to do, looking in all directions. Until she approached me with short, trembling steps, and told me  
-Give me an hour, go for the time being, here to the villa if you want.  
-I will not help you betray the emperor!  
-For everything that is sacred, I am not betraying anyone. Give me just one hour to explain. Just one hour.  
The gardener waited behind her, with his arms crossed and a smile that lit up his face like the sun. He looked like a fifteen year old in love instead of a forty year old man crushed by work.  
There was something about his face, behind that beard and that blond hair...  
Well, what the hell. He was just an ordinary slave who had loved the emperor's mistress when she was just a common slave. Persephone joined him on the run, like a little girl, took his hand and put her head on his shoulder... I've never seen anything like it.  
After an hour she was ready, barefoot and alone at the door of the villa. There was no sign of her son or father, and she climbed into the bunk bed very calmly. I handed over the reins of my saddle to a member of the Praetorian Guard and rode on the bunk next to her.  
-Well? -I said.  
-I told him that I have a jealous lover.  
-Did you tell her who it is?  
-No, I did not think to mention his name. These are not two names that should be mixed up," she replied, fiddling with the silk cushions on the bunk.  
-Why were you scared?  
-What? -she replied, folding his arms and looking at the infinity behind the curtains.  
-Your eyes gave away surprise and fright, and your back was unattached.  
-Isn't that logical," she snorted, "is that all you're going to ask? To get some sleep  
Tell it to the emperor!  
-He will kill you," I said, without apology or explanation for such direct words.  
-Yes, for sure," she commented very calmly.   
And it would also kill the man you know as Dean, and our son. And I would probably punish Luna for allowing our meetings. It's up to you.  
-This is not fair.  
-You are at his service," she said, and looked away from the curtain.- And I am his possession. Have you ever considered what fidelity to your service and honesty and peace mean separately? What can be separated on some occasions? Nothing in life is really defined in justice. It is your ultimate word.  
I looked at her.Another secret between me and the man to whom I had sworn allegiance.  
Another secret.  
-If I don't tell him," I said, "what will happen?  
-I will continue to see Severus," she answered, "I will also see his father from time to time, but nothing will happen. You have my word.  
-Your word?  
-I solemnly promise. Anyway, if I slept with another man, Tom would find out... he would smell it. And it would be the end for me and for... Dean.   
Persephone took a deep breath and rolled around in her silks like a chain.  
-So, Draco, what are you going to do?  
-Tomorrow we'll talk more about it.  
-Thank you.  
She leaned back on the cushions and closed her eyes. The tear, shining, fell into his hair.  
-One thing," I said suddenly. -This Dean, have I seen him somewhere before?  
-No," she answered, opening her eyes, "never.  
During the rest of the trip to Villa Jovis, silence reigned.

LUNA

-Has she told you who her jealous lover is? - I asked him, who followed the departing bunk with his eyes.  
-No," he answered, turning to look at me. -You knew her. All this time... you knew her.  
-Yes, how ironic, isn't it? The fairies must have laughed a lot at our expense.  
-Who is her lover?  
Something told me that things would get very tense if she found out the answers he expected to know... but who was I to deny or tell lies about it? Although, as a precaution, I wouldn't meddle in a positive way any more than I had to.  
-Ask around," I said, patting him on the shoulder and walking away.  
I learned that it did not take long to grab the neck of a slave and ask him; for I was notified after a few moments that a plank from an orchard was completely shattered and split in two. When I went to the place to talk to him, I saw Severus approaching in the middle of the disaster the squatting and threatening figure. He looked at it. I knew then that the talk was meant for someone else. And I stood there watching the two figures meet as if they had never seen each other.

BELLATRIX

Thirty-two years... By the gods, I'm getting older! I'm almost an old woman.   
I threw a jar of essences at my maid's head, tore my yellow silk veil because it had a grease spot on it and fell to my knees in front of my polished steel mirror. At least I didn't look like one. My hair shone like ebony, my skin was white velvet, and I could show my breasts without hesitation. Mrs. Bellatrix, at over thirty, had nothing to fear from the young beauties of the court of Rome. I was still above them all.  
I frowned as I rummaged through my rouge pots. The problem was that I was bored of being the most desired. I had been for years. As soon as I entered a room, the men would drool and the women would twist the gesture. I only had to put on my famous smile to have any man at my feet. If I wore blue, everyone wore blue. When I laughed at a joke, everyone thought it was funny. I had reached the top of patrician society.  
But what was the point of it all? If I couldn't get any higher, what was the point? I could have gone one step higher if it weren't for her.  
How unfair! How unjust! She always spoiled everything, and now she had made the emperor her prisoner. Tom had never shunned social life before. He may have been a dour host, but at least he was a host. Nevertheless, last summer he spent almost all of it in his villa in the company of his little Jewish dog. It is true that he slept with other women, but none lasted as long as Hermione.  
-I am convinced that he has cast a spell on the emperor," I once told Draco. -Jewish magic. You should condemn her to death.  
-Don't be ridiculous," he replied, mockingly and without hesitation.  
Was he taking her side too? Would it be that... Draco and Hermione? I had already wanted to court her once, when she was just a singer. I could give that notice to Tom! I'm sure that would get her out of the way, but I'd also lose Draco, and the fact that my stepson was the emperor's confidant was very important to me. Anyway, I doubt if there is anything between those two. Draco is stupid, but not that stupid.  
However, there was something strange going on with him, even if he wasn't Hermione.   
Of course, he still came desperately to my bed every time I called him, but... there were small details. The last time I wrapped my arms around his neck in the garden of a senator's house during a party, he tried to push me away for a moment before succumbing with a whimper. I could see in his eyes a certain displeasure that bothered me. I knew he hated me, it was normal, but hate was always the other side of a coin whose cross was desire. That look of spite was something new. It reminded me of Albus.  
If it wasn't Hermione, would I be with someone else? Surely it would not be that cow of Morgana. They had been engaged for an eternity and there was no wedding date. During the last year they had hardly seen each other. But then, it was no use worrying about Draco. No matter what look I saw in his eyes lately, I still knew how to bring him to his knees. My problem was Hermione.  
I looked at myself in the mirror and motioned to my cowardly maid to come closer.  
\- You must have friends among the palace slaves," I told her, fixing her with my fierce gaze -and if you don't, you're asking for them. I will offer a great reward to anyone who gives me information about Persephone. And to you, too. Now go.  
Let's see what I can get out of this.

LUNA

-Draco," I said, "have you nothing better to do than to spy on Persephone?  
-I am not spying on her," he answered, stubbornly.  
-You've been staring at her from that window for an hour!  
-As prefect, it is my duty to monitor any suspicious activity.  
-Suspicious activity? He's just talking to the father of his child. It's the first time they've seen each other since they met again. He's had to wait three weeks to come back here!  
-I shouldn't allow it.  
-For God's sake, have they only touched each other once in all the time you've been watching them?  
-They don't need to touch each other," he muttered.  
Persephone and the gardener were sitting on a marble bench, about a foot apart, but they were so hot you could bake bread between them. I looked bad.  
-You sound like a jealous lover. I hope you're not falling in love with her. That would really break your loyalty.  
-I don't... -he protested, blushing.  
-Then leave her alone. She has given you her word that she will not betray the emperor. Is her word worthless because she is a Jew and a slave?  
-I am sure she intends to respect her word," he said, "but I am indebted to the emperor. Tom should be aware of what is happening.  
-If you tell my uncle, you will be signing Persephone's death warrant.  
-No.  
-Don't believe me?  
-The emperor is a man of honor.  
-He is not! -I protested furiously.  
-Domina Luna, you don't know what you're saying.  
-I know perfectly well what I am saying," I exclaimed already out of my boxes, "do you think you know him better than I do?  
-I have been in his service for six years. On the battlefield...  
-On the battlefield? -I teased-Who cares about that? I'm his niece. Do you have any idea of the things I've seen? I've seen him kill flies with the tip of a style and watch them squirm to death. I've seen him shoot arrows at slaves until they looked like sea urchins. I have seen him condemn men without trial just for the pleasure of watching them beg for forgiveness. My uncle is a hard, insensitive and cruel man. And his cruelty is extreme with his women.  
Draco started to open his mouth in protest, but in anger I stopped him:  
-Did you know that the empress was once a smiling young woman? That she liked to laugh? But Tom took her over and turned her into a marble statue covered with diamonds. As a child you played with Helena, but when the rumors started to circulate, you thought she was crazy. You didn't receive her letters, which were getting shorter and more desperate, until finally I couldn't help but be glad she was dead. And Persephone... By God, you are not the only one who has been serving the emperor for years! She is also at his service: in his bed, playing music... And she pays a high price for it. When she is alone, she fills a vessel with her own blood and thinks only of dying. Did you know all that, Prefect? No, of course not. She is always so strong and lively... so detached from her reality and her surroundings, as if she were on a par with Tom, and surely if she were a man she would overshadow even the fiercest warrior. But I do, and not because he told me. I know what to expect, I've known Tom since she was a little girl and I know what she thinks when she becomes obsessed with someone, and now my children have gotten in him way!  
I burst into tears without any more strength, just thinking about their future under the influence of my uncle something in me was breaking and splintering, bleeding inside.  
-As far as I am concerned, if Persephone wants to have a lover, I will not object," I added, wiping the kohl stains that ran down my cheeks. If all she wants is to sit in a garden and talk to a normal being who loves her, I will cover for her. I couldn't do it for Helena, but I will do it for her. She deserves it. And if you can't understand that, Draco Malfoy, open your eyes, for God's sake!  
I left in a hurry, writhing in sobs.

HARRY

-What took you so long to come back? It's been three weeks!  
-They're watching me, Harry. I didn't dare do it before.  
-I've been thinking about you dying for twelve years. I saw you everywhere, and at the same time nowhere...I was like a living dead all this time with your memory getting weaker and weaker to hold on to.  
-I saw you constantly as I looked at Severus, I could never get you out of my mind.  
-You should have told me that you had a son.  
-I didn't know until I was sold.  
-I should have taken you with me when I had the chance. I would have carried you on my shoulders, like the barbarians do.  
-You're not a barbarian anymore," she said, smiling.- You are a gardener now.  
-But I'm not very good at it, all grapes have plagues since I've been tending them. Nor was I a good barbarian when I was with you.  
-Don't say that, you make it harder.  
-You look beautiful. You're wearing silk, your hands are soft...   
-I'm not allowed to do anything anymore.  
-Just wait for the emperor, right?  
-Harry, don't...  
-Do you know I would have preferred you dead?  
-Do you think I wouldn't? How can I oppose him?  
-He is not a god.  
After a silence, I approached her.  
-Harry, please forgive me," she said, on the verge of weeping and shame.  
-What?  
-I was... you almost died because of me. I just didn't want Him to be the one to take your life, I didn't want to let Him have you.  
-And now he has you. How can I be satisfied with that?  
-I would gladly let myself die by your hand to pay it off ...I see a mirage of us dying together, that would definitely be the only way to give myself up to death once and for all.  
-We'd better escape. We'll get Severus and get out of Rome.  
-Harry, there's no place the emperor can't find me.  
Our hands brushed shyly over the bench, interlacing and caressing each other in silence. Until she threw herself into my arms and I held her like a visio oiling her hair.


	10. X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again  
Well...I know this is ridiculously long, in fact I thought I'd cut it off at one specific point to add more tension  
But it was not possible for technical reasons.  
Anyway, it's there for you to enjoy!

DRACO

-I don't know what to think," I said, leaning my elbows on my knees and interlocking my fingers, "but sometimes I think he's right.  
-Domina Luna? -whispered Astoria's voice within the marble walls.  
-Yes," I answered as I twisted my fingers endlessly. There are many things that fit... things about the emperor. The banquet on the night of my betrothal, the empress, Helena's death, the treason trials...  
-Do you believe Mrs. Luna?  
-I don't know! -I exclaimed, tossing my hair. -He is my friend. By the gods, I can't get over the things she says about him. I can only see him pouring me wine, asking me about the army and joking about lazy legionnaires and incompetent governors. But as soon as I manage to forget all that, I think of how Persephone comes out of her quarters, staggering around like a drunk, even though she hardly ever drinks. And again I ask myself questions.  
-And what are you going to do?  
Her words were like silent drops of water falling into a well, forming waves in the room.  
-I don't know," I answered, letting out a sigh. -There's nothing I can do. No, now that Luna has released him in front of me. But what proof do I have? Is there any word that prevails over the emperor's? Persephone is a slave, Helen is dead, Luna hates him since the death of her sister. In fact, he is against her since her story of the children.  
Astoria looked at me inquisitively.  
-Luna rescues children from the Coliseum and from prisons, -I explained, tired. Jews, Christians and other heretics. She has been doing it for years. She bribes the guards to let them out of their cells and takes them as slaves to her village, or she seeks out families for them among her friends and tenants. The emperor allows him to do this because he keeps her busy and who cares if a few children escape from the lions?  
-He is the one who signs their sentences, right? -he asked.  
Silence fell and Astoria leaned her face towards me.  
-Then, if you doubt the word of Luna and since Helena is no longer among us to defend herself, whom will you trust? Who is the most judicious person you know?  
-My father," I answered without hesitation.   
-Why don't you ask him for advice? After all, this is not about your stepmother, it's a question of politics, and of the people. Ask her what's right.  
-But I don't dare look at her face!  
-Then who can you consult?  
-To you," I said, looking up and anxiously looking at her eyes.- Do you think the rumors are true?  
-Yes," she answered, and folded his arms.  
-Then," I said, closing my eyes, "what should I do?  
-Are you asking me to be your conscience?  
-Yes, that is what I am doing.  
-I can't do that for you, Draco. No one can.  
-Advise me, then. Help me.  
-Tell me one thing. Of all the horrible things you've heard attributed to Tom, which one would you correct if you could? Which one would you undo?  
-I would go to see Helena to see for myself if she had lost her reason for truth," I answered, surprised at my own words. -After a childhood of playing together, I owe it to him.  
-It's too late to help her. But it is not too late for Persephone. Help her, do it for Helena.  
-Then, don't I tell the emperor about his lover the gardener?  
-It's a start.  
-I've been watching them all summer," I said. It's not like they've seen each other too much, a couple of times, three at the most. They never touch. She keeps her word. But they look like a couple of horses trotting at the same pace.  
-To you that's love.  
-I'm not going to marry Morgana, -I said suddenly. We don't go at the same pace.  
-It would be a little unfair to her, don't you think? You have been engaged for a long time.  
-She does not love me, and I do not love her either," I added, shaking my head. There will be no wedding until I find the woman who can gallop at my pace.  
-These things are hard to find.  
I looked at Astoria: her fine, angular face between the white veil, her deep, serious look, her dark eyebrows pointing to hair I had never seen before.  
-I waited.

HERMIONE

I heard whispers behind my door.  
-Gods, I don't know what to do with it any more," said an agitated Remus, without his usual joy and vivacity. -She has not left her room since she returned from Tivoli. I came to see how she was, and I found her like this. I couldn't get the knife out of her hand! Can you do anything?  
Someone made a guttural sound.  
-Of course you can. You're the best to raise morale.  
I looked up and with my eyes half closed I saw Sirius planting a kiss on his lover's head, just at the point where his hair was beginning to lighten. Then, he entered my room. A beautiful bedroom, all gray and white, with the lavish bed covered by silver curtains and the statues of Minerva, which squirmed when my bloody nightmares came.  
I resisted when he tried to take the knife away from me and the vessel tipped over. Blood spilled everywhere, dirtying the mosaics, gushing from the vessel and from my arm, whose bluish veins were open. Sirius, paying no attention to the blood or to my weak insults, tore the silken curtain from the bed and wrapped it around my wrist.  
-No, no...  
Very easily he took me in his arms and carried me to the bed. As soon as he stepped aside, I tore the bandage off my wrist, digging my nails into my open veins. He bandaged me again and immobilized my arms. The white silk was already speckled with little red dots.  
-No," I protested, hitting his hands between sobs. Let me, let me finish this time. It's the only way they'll go away. They will never leave while I am alive. Let me take it off.  
I gave a tremendous tug and Sirius pressed both arms against his chest, humming with his mute voice.  
-I can't take it anymore... Four years! Four years! I won't stand another year of his toys and his strange practices... That's enough! Harry will see the marks, he's not stupid. No way, second time I have him next to me and I can't freely He is the only one I have ever wanted to touch or have again!  
I collapsed in tears before Sirius, tears accumulated over the years.  
-And Severus, Severus will find out too. It is a miracle that I managed to have him fooled all this time.   
The words became a choked up scream against Sirius' chest. He stroked my hair and checked my wrist. I could already feel the blood drying.  
-Do you know why he will hate me? -I added, panting, "Not because Tom turned me into a whore, but because he made me weak. In only four years he has managed to finish me off. Four years of his games, his questions, and his eye around my neck, and he has brought me down. I can no longer trust anyone, not even Harry, even if I put my life in his hands without blinking. Tom has won, hasn't he? Another point for him. The only thing I'm good at is not being afraid of him, I've never been able to be afraid of him...in exchange for what? What little was left of my 100%.  
Sirius rocked me in his arms, humming tunes in his throat.  
-Let me die. Oh, God. Let me die.  
I shook in his arms and drowned out a guttural groan in my throat. He returned me to the cushions and covered me with the blankets. He ordered my curious slaves out and held me tenderly. I knew he was going to spend the night by my side. I suppose Remus would understand. I'm sure he would. The astrologer loved Sirius and, more importantly, trusted him. I no longer knew what love was, but I still remembered something about trust. When it was dawn, the slave who was picking up my sheets was staring at the scene, but I didn't pay any attention to her...and I didn't notice that she almost ran out to talk to another slave.

SEVERUS

The hoarse voice inside me cried out for blood.  
-Severus," shouted Luna's son, stumbling and looking at the mark the blow had left on his ribs. -Not so loud.  
-The masses roar at the first stab of Severus the Bloodthirsty! -I shouted, raising my wooden sword and spinning in the training arena of the gymnasium.  
I watched absently the gardener who was my father on a fence, biting into a straw. I didn't used to practice with the two princes. "They are too easy", but, taking advantage of the fact that my tutor was in a fever, he had begged me to train with him. Maybe now he is regretting it. He was my same age, but I was taking a head out of him. He was a mommy's boy and very spoiled. Sometimes, after dinner, he offered Harry pieces of meat from his own plate for his cat.  
-The opponent cries out for mercy! -I shouted as I waved my sword with both hands. It is the first games of October, and Severus the Bloodthirsty is preparing to finish off his first enemy.  
My prey protected himself, releasing a howl of pain when the flat part of my sword hit him in the shoulder.  
-Severus, this is no fun," he said.  
-Severus approaches and...  
My prey fell into the sand with a shriek and started bleeding from his leg.  
-Severus, stop. You've won! Okay? You win.  
I heard Harry spit out vaguely, it's really not like it happened in my perfect world.  
-The Coliseum explodes as Severus approaches his rival to finish him off.  
I hurled myself at my opponent and placed the wooden sword down his throat, plunging the blunt tip into his flesh. The thick voice almost howled with joy.  
-Severus! -groaned the boy.  
-In the stands the thumbs beg for death.  
Just as I closed my hands on the throbbing jugular of Luna's son, I received a punch that threw me into the sand.  
-That's enough! -exclaimed the barbarian.  
I stood up in surprise, as if I had just woken up from a dream. Luna's son was on his knees, catching his breath. He had a deep cut in his throat.  
-He was... He was going to kill me," groaned the boy.  
-Go and be healed," the man ordered.  
He did not need to be repeated. He took one last look at me and ran away.  
I got a kick.  
-Hey," I protested. -I was just playing. I was in the Coliseum, everyone was applauding me, just like you...  
The first time I got kicked, I lost a tooth.

I threw up twice on the way back to the cabin. On both occasions, Harry waited for me to finish and then picked me up and yelled at me to keep walking.  
-I'm bleeding," I said, my lips swollen, as he threw me to the dirt floor of the cabin.  
-You will survive.  
He went over the wounds he had inflicted on me: I have lost a tooth, a swollen jaw, two black eyes, a bleeding nose and marks from his sandals on my ribs. Inside I was crying in pain, but I clenched my teeth to contain it.  
-You almost killed me," I mumbled. -You son of a bitch, you almost killed me.  
-You deserved it," replied the barbarian, throwing more wood on the fire. -Arrogant bastard.  
-Fuck you!  
-You, son.  
He took off his sandals and sat down with his back to the adobe wall. He peeled an apple with his knife and ate it, I wondered what the hell I should do now. It wasn't the first time I'd been kicked around by something, and it wasn't much different than the previous times, the only difference was that this kick had not been specific to bothering him. In any case, I could never be the same...for the first time I realized that I was not being given the words, that is to say, it is not as if I had paid attention to that fact before.  
-Are you not going to give me any dinner?  
-No.  
-And something to bandage me up?  
-Don't you want to be a gladiator? Sit there, bleed and wait to get better.  
-Thank you.  
I got up and sat next to him, leaning my back against the wall.  
-I wasn't going to hurt him.  
He was silent.  
-I was just playing!  
-The classes are over," he finally said, "I won't teach you anything else.  
-It's not fair.  
-I will not allow my son to become a bully.  
-But you weren't with me for the first ten years! -I protested.  
-Well, now I am, and I'm not going to teach a criminal how to fight.  
I looked at him dejected. But with hatred.  
-Tell me one thing," he added, as he fiddled with the edge of his knife and watched the fire.- Do you hear a voice in your head when you fight? A dark voice?  
I was bluntly surprised. We both looked away and stretched out our legs to bring them closer to the fire.  
I growled when a joint creaked.  
-I hate you.  
-I hate you too.  
-I don't think Mrs. Luna will take me to Rome with her now.  
-I don't think so either.  
-She told me she was attending a dinner at the palace next month, and that the emperor was going to proclaim his children as heirs. She said she would take me, so I could see Mom a little. But then, who cares about going to the palace?  
-Have you ever seen the emperor? -he asked as he cut a slice of brown bread in half.  
-Once.  
-And what did you think?  
-I hate him," I said. I remembered the time our eyes made contact when I reached my mother in that temple and she sent me to this place. -Pass me the bread.  
I assumed that the scolding was over when he gave me the bread. We both chewed, me in pain, and Harry in peace.  
-Do you have news from your mother?  
-Not much. From time to time she writes to Mrs. Luna, but she says they read her letters.  
The two of them leaned their heads against the wall, closing their eyes. We rested our calloused hands on our dark, scarred knees.  
-Don't listen to that voice," he said, without opening his eyes, "the one inside you... Ah! And you lengthen that turn too much with a downward thrust.  
Maybe I wasn't finished with the classes yet, I thought with enthusiasm.

TOM

-Persephone," I said, patting her shoulder with my teeth as she sat on my lap, "do you want me to tell you what I found out today?  
-Can I refuse, Caesar?  
-Oh, you're still so grumpy. I thought you had learned your lesson.  
-I have.  
-Then be a good girl and listen.   
I have a spy for Judea. He must be very dedicated, because he has managed to discover something that was missed by others.  
-What?  
-Your origins... Honey, you're getting pale. Do you want some wine? It's from an excellent vintage. I have confiscated it from the lands of Lucio Isernia. He might be a traitor, but that man knew about wine.  
-What did he tell you?  
-Who? Lucio Isernia?  
-Of course... you know who I'm talking about, César.  
-Ah, that one. You know that I have unravelled almost all your past: that Athenian merchant who taught you Greek, your life with Rebastan Lestrange, your taste for gladiators... But what about your origins? They were blank. Until I received a very interesting report from one of my men in Judea. Something about a fortress on a cliff, a hot night, a city full of dead Jews and a few survivors. Do you want me to go on?  
-I don't know.  
-Did you know there were six other survivors? Two old women and four other children, all boys. I sent for them, just out of curiosity. Do you know where your brothers are now?  
-No  
-Dead. All of them. Most, killed for bringing bad luck to the families who bought them. The last Jews of Massada brought their bad luck to whatever they touched. From the looks of it, you are the last. But you have never brought me bad luck, am I wrong?  
-By the looks of it, no.  
-I remember Massada, you know. Gellert cried, he had a weakness for Jews, but I didn't. I laughed.  
-I'm sure of it.  
I just grabbed her throat and stared at her, just like the hunters did to their newly trapped pheasants. I wanted to see her collapse, to say once and for all who the hell she really was, in desperation, and I wanted to get rid of her.  
-You said you were a goddess, Persephone.  
-I never... said that.  
-You play mystical roles wonderfully," I said as I plunged my other hand into her ass. -You were born of a Jewess in the middle of the desert, weeping and covered with blood like any mortal. You are no goddess. I am the only god here. The only god in Rome. I got rid of Harry the Barbarian, I got rid of you...  
-You are not finished with me yet. So stop bragging and get it over with.  
-Yes, yes, of course. But not until I hear it.  
-Until you hear what?  
-You already know. Say it.  
-That I'm afraid? You're the one who's afraid, Caesar. You are afraid of me, even though I am only a Jew born among cries in the desert.  
-Stop laughing. Stop it!  
-I am Persephone," she said, writhing hysterically. When her arms were released, they pounced on my chest; pushing me to the support and looking into my eyes as she moved, she revived the rhythm. Before I was Hermione, a singer, slave and gladiator lover. Before that I was Jean, daughter of Benjamin and Raquel de Masada. I am as mortal as you, ordinary reptile. -She rode without trembling, twisting my limb in jumps, grunting in pain, furiously watching her breasts bounce until she finally broke free in a scream that could have been heard throughout the palace. With a fierce expression he turned to the ceiling with his eyes closed as his frantic breathing became regulated  
I contemplated for a few moments as I came out of my stupor, and I began to laugh.  
It was eight days before she could get out of my bed. It seemed that the struggle could not be over yet.

DRACO

-I didn't think I'd see you so soon," said Astoria with a look that moved me. -But here you are, and in your best clothes.  
-In an hour I have to go to the Domus Slytherin," I explained as I took off my scarlet crest helmet. The emperor is holding a formal banquet in honour of his niece and children.  
We walked down the light marble corridor with a perfectly synchronized step. Other priestesses with their undulating veils hurried through the temple, while some Roman matrons came to murmur prayers on the occasion of Saturnalia, the New Year's Eve feast in which houses were turned upside down and prepared for the New Year. Nobody noticed the vestal and the prefect. The image of our heads bowed in conversation was common in public rooms. In any case, those who might have enjoyed speculating about a vestal virgin would not dare utter a word against the emperor's best friend.  
-Today I have done one thing," I said, placing my hands on my kidneys with a gesture copied from Tom. -Bella sent me a note to the Praetorian Guard headquarters, as she usually does. "Tonight," it said. I always tell my centurions to take charge of the barracks that night, but today...  
-What?  
-I called them, but then, I don't know what happened to me. I turned the note around and wrote, "I'm busy," and sent it back. -My eyes went to Astoria's. -I've never done anything like that before.  
-And why now?  
-I thought about what you would say if you could see me. What you would think about.  
-And what did you think I would think?  
-I thought you would... understand. But I don't want you to understand me, I want you to be proud of me.  
-I am.  
-Of me?  
-Of you.  
I let out a long sigh of relief.  
-Can I ask you something?  
-Yes.  
-How old are you?  
-Thirty-two," she answered, surprised.  
-So you have another seven years of service with Vesta before you retire.  
-That's right.  
-When those seven years are up," I said, "marry me.  
There was a long silence, and when I dared to look at her, I saw that her eyes were huge.  
-Draco...  
-What?  
-I... -she said, looking away, nervous for the first time since I had known her. -It's bad luck to marry an old vestal.  
-Well, I'll face the goddess Fortune.  
-Draco, we are talking about seven years. I'm not going to break my vows before that.  
-I know, I'll wait for you.  
I'll be thirty-nine years old, too old to give you children.  
-I don't want children, I want you.  
I approached to take her hand, but I remembered the stream of parishioners passing by and was content to say in a low voice  
-I feel as if I have known you forever, Astoria, since before I saw you for the first time. I don't care what I have to look forward to.  
She stepped back a little and our eyes met for a moment, to quickly move away. She adjusted her veil, nervously.  
-I don't... I don't know what to say.  
-Say maybe. Think about it. You have seven years to decide.  
-But Morgana...  
-She doesn't want to marry me. For years we have been looking for excuse after excuse not to set a date for the wedding. Today I will tell the emperor that I am going to break our engagement. Morgana has a good inheritance; she will have no trouble to find another husband. Tell me you will think about it, just tell me.  
-Eh... all right," she said, in a weak voice.  
A wave of joy flooded my head.  
-Well, I'm going. That's what I wanted to tell you. Gods, it took me all day to get up the courage to come. Even Regulus and his brothers were easier than making this decision.  
I burst out laughing. I wanted to scream, I wanted to dance.   
Astoria's veil slipped a little when she bent down to look at me, and I could see a lock of her hair behind her ear. It must have come loose when she adjusted her scarf. A dark hair, as she had imagined. I reached out and touched him.  
-It's the color of onyx," I said, "or black gold.  
When I left, I could feel her still standing in the center of the marble room.

ALBUS  
-Well? -I asked, smiling, "Do I have your approval?  
Morgana adjusted the folds of the palla on my back and said:  
-You are perfect.  
-You look beautiful. Yellow suits you very well.  
She looked down, shaking her golden bracelet nervously.  
-I would rather stay here and read in the library than go to an imperial banquet.  
Since the horror of her wedding feast, she had never set foot in the palace again. I could imagine what he was thinking about. I held her head up to her chin.  
-This time it won't be the same.  
-But what if it does?  
-Then I'll bring you home," I answered, smiling. -I did it last time, didn't I?  
-It's true.  
Morgana stood motionless, resting her cheek on my hand, before turning to pick up her amber-colored palla.  
-I am ready now.  
-Good girl.  
-Morgana! -exclaimed Draco as he swooped in in his gold and red praetorian uniform and kissed his fiancée on the cheek.- Father, how are you?  
To my surprise, my son gave me a hug instead of the usual uncomfortable handshake.  
-Very well," I said, looking at him, "and as far as I can see, so are you.  
-Draco," called a voice from the floor above, "we see so little of you lately.  
Bella came down to join us, like a bird of paradise with its scarlet silks with golden sequins and hair gathered in a net of rubies and pearls.  
-Bella," said Draco, bowing, "you look beautiful.  
-You look beautiful? You've been ignoring us for a whole week and you expect...  
Her icy words were lost when Draco passed by and went up the stairs two by two to embrace his little sister who had just poked her head through the bedroom door.  
-Here's the little girl I've been ignoring for a week," he exclaimed, stirring her light hair. -How are you coping with your migraines, Delphi?  
-Better. You know, I've grown an inch!  
-I can see that," Draco commented, posing her on the floor with a chuckle. -I'll have to take advantage of your company before you leave me for the suitors that come out of you. Tomorrow we are going to ride horses. Your crazy Aunt Minerva has a quiet mare for you.  
-I'm sorry to interrupt this touching moment," said Bellatrix, waving her peacock-feather fan as if it were a cat's tail, "but we're going to be late.  
-Wait till I see if Daddy is dressed properly," said the little girl.  
-I've already done it for you," commented Morgana. -Do you think I would let him show up at the emperor's house in a wrinkled gown?  
-To bed! -ordered Bella, and took her daughter by the shoulder to push her to her room. -It doesn't matter what your father wears to see the emperor. Even if his ancestors were emperors, he's just a crippled, bored old man.  
Delphi shuddered, and disgust crept into Draco's face. I shrugged my shoulders and thought: wait and see, wait and see.  
-Go to bed, little one," I said to my daughter.  
-Well," exclaimed Bellatrix, adjusting her golden silk veil as the little girl disappeared into her room. -Shall we go?  
Morgana looked down and adjusted her bracelet precisely on her wrist.  
-Bella," she said, "has no one ever told you that you are a crawling, evil, selfish bitch?  
I blinked in surprise as Bella's jaw dropped with a nasty grimace.  
-You are evil, unprincipled, mistreating your slaves and abusing your daughter," she continued.  
-Well," she said again, "I can see that you are jealous of me.  
-And you are the worst wife in Rome. By far the most careless and criminal," added Morgana. Then, looking at me, she said, "I think we can go now.  
Draco drowned what could have been a cough as I smiled from ear to ear. I began to laugh as I hadn't laughed for a long time.  
-Yes," I said, "I think we're ready now.  
The winter wind had given way to an icy rain, but the atmosphere inside the bunkhouse was even colder on the way to the palace.  
LUNA  
It was an elegant evening, at the Domus Augustana for my children; everything was with a very elegant red theme in the tapestries and a bit histrionic and pressing for something like the crowning of the heirs...I felt faint in all these days, and I tried my best in all my energies to instill my values in my children and pray to God that they remain impregnated forever, emphasizing in my mind my faith in overcoming the omnipotence that my children believed in from Tom and that would be upon them. Tonight, everyone was very formal in the huge official ceremony room of the new palace, with new bronze statues, scarlet robes and gold wholesale jewelry, and at the banquet pheasant, crabs, lobsters, apples, pomegranates, strawberries... Meticulous voices chatted amicably about unimportant things, with the background sound of the gigantic oval fountain framed by small windows and arches. At a time when I assumed I was right, I concentrated on my husband, my two children were pestering the astrologer Remus with questions, Senator Albus and Domina Morgana were arguing about some political theory and Draco seemed happy... and Mrs. Bellatrix seemed to want to kill him with her eyes, or maybe it was my imagination. When Draco spoke to the emperor, one could guess certain reservations in his eyes. Would they have argued? Well, what did it matter?   
I noticed Persephone occasionally. She wore a carmine silk, with purple-red embroidery on the hem that looked like dried blood, and jet beads, as well as a headdress of the same mineral on her forehead. Dazed and with lazy eyes, the emperor paid no attention to her... But he sat on his own bed, in the place that his wife would have had to occupy had she been there. Until now he realized how much the decoration was inspired by her. I thought about the little beast that was his son that I had decided to bring him today, I had lost sight of him, he must be around, Draco took him somewhere when he received him, not without first reproaching me for having taken him.  
Sirius, dressed in a white silk robe, bent down to put more food on his plate, and I smiled warmly. He looked as cheerful as ever. As he bent down, a curl of his hair fell on his forehead, and Persephone smiled for the first time all evening when she brushed his hand.  
The emperor called to her in a cheerful voice:  
-Persephone, you must sing something for us.  
-Of course, Caesar.  
She stood up and took the lyre while her lover looked at her with an inscrutable gesture. I enjoyed the melody ...   
-Wonderful," applauded Albus when she finished, "I remember the first time I heard her sing, Persephone. Her voice has always given me great pleasure.  
-I remember it too," she said, bowing. -I was still cleaning fountains. You were very kind to my singing.  
-Then I am indebted to you, Albus Dumbledore," said the emperor from his bed. -If it were not for your singing, I would never have met Persephone.  
Curious idea.   
-So what do you think, Persephone? -exclaimed the emperor, suddenly raising her voice. -It is a fortune that you can sing like the goddess you are supposed to be.  
-Yes, Caesar," she replied, neutral as she picked up the tail of her dress.  
-I can imagine you rubbing tiles and singing for the frogs," continued the emperor, with an entertaining but harsh voice. -No silks, no jewels, no soft feather mattresses... no lovers.  
I began to feel something in the pit of my stomach, that gleam in his eyes...  
-No," he said with a condescending tone and as if explaining himself to a child, "I had nothing like that. I was very lucky.  
-I was. Now you have all the luxuries of the Empire at your disposal, an emperor who grants them to you? and a man to enjoy them behind my back.  
Slowly, Persephone's face became the color of chalk.  
-Please, Persephone," said Tom slowly, "did you think I would not find out?  
An agonizing cry of fear echoed through me.  
Albus and Morgana exchanged confused looks. I looked in the direction of Draco sharply, who was frozen. I looked at Tom and then at Persephone, and intervened:  
-Uncle, we should not... Not in front of the boys.  
-And why not? Surely they learn something: how to treat traitors, impostors and unfaithful women.  
-Caesar," said Persephone, taking a step forward, "lord and God, I swear to you...  
-Wow, now I am a god, eh? How quickly you change your mind! Are you going to beg me?  
Albus's wife was intrepid as a curious and cheerful child to see the whole scene as a Colosseum show.  
-Sir," Draco intervened, calling the emperor's attention from his bed, "I should have told you, I know. But he has done nothing wrong. I have been spying on you, there has been no betrayal.  
-Silence, Draco," said the emperor, not taking his eyes off his concubine.  
-But sir, I swear it is true, would I lie to you?  
-No, you would not lie to me. But she would. You don't know how deceitful women are. Persephone! -The imperial voice echoed across the room again. -How easy it must have been for you to deceive an honest man like Draco!  
-I don't...  
-Silence! -thundered the emperor, and she shrank.  
-Sir," Draco begged, with desperate eyes.  
-I will entreat you," said Persephone, kneeling in the middle of the room. Is that what you want? I beg you. I will do anything. But leave it alone.  
-Too much pride," said Tom as he stood up and approached her, "you still have too much pride.  
-Please, Lord and God, please.  
-Crawl!  
Persephone bowed her head to the emperor's feet, gluing her face to the laces of his sandals and caressing his ankles with her hands.  
-Tom, I beg you...  
The emperor bent down to touch her head, with dreamy and distant eyes, and my breath was cut off.  
-Persephone", Tom muttered, sinking his fingers into his lover's hair and caressing it tenderly, "my dear Persephone... No!  
He pushed her away and turned to give the order to his guards:  
-Kill the slave.  
Two praetorian guards advanced with their swords unsheathed.  
She screamed and Draco took a step back. I held my breath and shouted.  
Sirius let out a muffled cry when two Roman swords sank to the hilt in his stomach.  
-No!" Remus howled.  
Sirius staggered back, his mouth open, spitting blood and begging for mercy with his bloody hands. The swords shone again, slicing his fingers on the way to his heart.  
He fell to the ground, with all his golden beauty turned into a red ruin. What a waste.  
-No, no, no," groaned the astrologer, and threw himself on the corpse.- No, Sirius. No!  
Tom averted his eyes from the dead man, his breath quickening. His gaze turned to the Senator's wife.  
-Thank you, domina Bellatrix," he said with a formal tone, "for drawing my attention to this man.  
-It has been a pleasure, sir and God," she replied as she blinked brightly.  
-You? -cried Remus, and looked at her with tears in his eyes. -Did you say that my Sirius By..? the gods you will pay dearly, bitch.  
His voice choked and collapsed, sobbing, embracing the head of the corpse and cradling it in his lap.  
-Well," she said, "as if it were my fault.  
-Get rid of it," Tom ordered, rubbing his hands together, "it's starting to stink.  
-Caesar, that man never touched me," said Persephone, standing up. -He was innocent.  
-So who was the guilty one? -said the emperor, passing over the extended arm of the corpse. -Tell me his name, so that we may attend another execution. I will let you watch, because that is what every unfaithful woman deserves: to see her lover die before her very eyes.  
-I have no lover, you bastard! -she shouted. With one blow, Tom threw her against the wall. Even the slaves were swirling in the antechamber to watch with their eyes open like plates.   
\- I, am guilty of a crime far worse than hurting your carnal pride as a man who you have every reason not to be - she stood up quickly as if such an assault had not been serious, oblivious to the thread of blood on the back of her head as she looked into my uncle's eyes as she strides into the center of the room and all of them - the punishment you gave my slave fell very short indeed and there is nothing you can do about it now.  
-That's enough! -shouted Albus, getting off his bed and slowly crossing the triclinium with his lame walk, without taking his eyes off Tom.  
Raising his voice, he said to the emperor of all Rome:  
-Stop!  
Tom looked into the eyes of Albus Dumbledore, who was obstructing the passage of the flaming figure as angry as he was.  
-Stop, both of you," repeated Albus, calmly, "right now.  
Tom let out something like a moan.  
-No.  
It sounded like a little boy crying out at a difficult lesson. He pushed Albus away with a childish gesture. He fell to the ground on his bad shoulder. His face contracted in pain and Tom laughed, breaking the strange silence that had come over him. The emperor was about to kick him and drag him to Persephone's feet, but Morgana threw herself on Albus to protect him and covered him with her yellow dress. The emperor turned away shrugging his shoulders.  
-The senator should not interrupt again," he said to the guards, and advanced toward his lover, who continued.  
-To follow Domina Luna to her supposed headache rest by going into the subway passages to throw gunpowder with the distraction of the guards was the work of Sirius under my orders, in fact it was quite easy to destroy a coliseum and take away the life of the Barbarian you so coveted  
-This is crazy! -exclaimed Draco; he stepped forward and grabbed the emperor by the arm. -You can't do this, sir, you're wrong... Let me explain it to you.  
Tom looked at Draco with a sort of sickly commiseration.  
-You are too good for these things, Draco. You don't see the enemies around me, the lions in the grass... You have no eyes for evil. It is for your own good, watch what an emperor does to mangy beasts.  
The emperor snapped two fingers and a couple of guards grabbed his stunned right hand by the elbows.  
-Imagine to Rome that you are destroyed," proclaimed the voice of contralte. -It gave me more pleasure than a thousand gladiator lovers.  
After a guttural roar, he crossed the room with two strides and smashed his fist into the face of the woman, who staggered as blood gushed from her broken lips. The emperor gave her another blow on the back of her head that made her fall to her knees. Tom stepped on her fingers and the dry cracking of the bones was heard as they broke. Then he grabbed her by the hair and lifted her up like a doll. She was coughing up blood.  
He raised his hand to throw another punch, but did not throw it because he received a blow to his back that made him stagger. Someone had shot out of the antechamber like lightning. I fainted in my sea of tears at the sight of a wide crack in the emperor's toga.  
-Severus! -cried Persephone.  
He was a tall, muscular boy whose hair, in the light of the lamps, looked almost reddish. He had in his fist a table knife with an ivory handle. The son of Jupiter, Mars... He pounced on the emperor of Rome moving his weapon with a lethal and soft gesture. We all froze in our beds.  
Tom turned and with the reflexes of his years in the legions he dodged the onslaught. The knife slit his sleeve instead of his throat. The emperor grabbed the boy's wrist, which threw his other hand around Tom's neck. They remained entangled for a few moments, circling the ground.  
Then the members of the Praetorian Guard intervened and threw the boy to the ground.  
-Do not kill him! -roared the emperor.  
The guards disarmed Severus, who continued to resist and charged with his head. He was about to open his skull when he hit a bronze shield.  
Persephone was standing again with her mouth wide open in a delirious gesture. Morgana embraced Albus, who was still held by the guards; now his wife was as astonished as all of them, assimilating with exorbitant eyes the whole scene, but more to Persephone. I covered the eyes of my children with my hands and Draco tried to free himself from his own men.  
-Lord and God, are you hurt? -said a guard who approached Tom.  
Looking at the torn pieces of his robe, the emperor commented:  
-I was lucky. The knife became entangled in the cloth.  
He directed a surprised look at the boy, whom two guards were holding kneeling on the ground.  
-Have the slaves gone mad?  
-Lord and God," said Albus' wife, coming out of her stupor at last, looking at the boy and her repeatedly, "I think I can tell you who this little killer is.  
The emperor looked at her.  
God...have mercy on me, please make this stop now!  
-He is the son of Persephone.  
Persephone let out an angry howl, with those already injected with blood.  
-Sir," cried Draco, "if you will stop for a moment and listen to me.  
The emperor looked from one side to the other, puzzled.  
-His... son?  
Suddenly, the boy stopped trying to get away from his guards and froze. Without looking at him, Tom advanced at a slow pace towards his woman.  
-Well, well," he said softly, "a son, you've trained to be a killer. It gives a bold drop of meaning to your penchant for pyromania.   
-I don't... I don't know who he is. I don't know him.  
-But you called him by his name, -the other woman intervened. -Severus, isn't it?  
-Bella! -exclaimed Albus, glaring at her.  
She stuck out her tongue, laughing. Tom, having no room for quarrel between the two, raised Persephone's chin gently to avert his gaze from her.  
-Well, Persephone," he said, and ran a finger down her bruised cheek, "what shall I do with this precocious son of yours who has tried to murder me?  
She just looked at him. Always in the eyes, even with catastrophic concern for her son, there was not an ounce of hesitation  
-Do I kill him?  
-Go ahead! -shouted the boy among the pile of guards holding him. -Kill me, but do it quickly.  
The boy was shaking, but he raised his head like a gladiator waiting for the coup de grâce.  
-How touching! -commented the emperor, turning away from her. -The little warrior bravely waiting for his execution. How noble!  
-Not so much," said the boy, who stirred like a caterpillar.  
He managed to drop one arm, just one, but it was just what he needed to grab a knife from a guard's belt and throw himself forward.  
He nailed the emperor's foot to the ground, which bent, letting out a shriek of pain.  
A shield hit Severus' head, which fell screaming in pain. However, he managed to grab the shield and snatch it from the guard. A knife was stuck right where his neck should have been.   
Out of my mind I couldn't take it anymore and I screamed.  
-I exclaimed, "Stop!" I took refuge in a corner with my children and my husband was finished; hell was in the whole palace. I took a step forward, forcing a smile to hide my terror, and placed an appeasing hand on the emperor's shoulder.  
-Uncle, don't do this in front of my children," I said, trying to convince him.- Let me take them home, and my husband. This is no place for them. And that boy, he is nobody. He is not the son of Persephone. I will take him home and see to it that he receives a serious punishment. I will have him flogged. Let me take him away.  
My children were halfway to the door, terrified and with eyes like plates. I motioned to Severus  
-Uncle, please. This tadpole does not deserve the wrath of an emperor.  
Tom stood up with the bloody knife in his hand, as blood streamed from his foot.  
-A child will have to pay for this, Luna," he said, "if not her child, then yours.  
He turned and pointed to my older son.  
-Turn him over... Or better," she ordered, as I shrieked atonically and hysterically, "catch them all. I'm sick of this crybaby and her brats.  
We got caught. I shook violently with shock and despair, my husband looked to the sides for help that did not come, and the two princes were pale. I fainted.

We got caught. I shook violently with shock and despair, my husband looked to the sides for help that did not come, and the two princes were pale. I fainted.

BELLATRIX

-Now, you," said the emperor, taking a limp step toward Severus with his injured foot and a smile.- Hell, what can I do with you?  
-Fuck you! -shouted the boy, and showed him his teeth like a cornered rat, although you could see the fear shining in his eyes.  
-Oh, I don't think so," said the emperor, gently pulling a strip of bloody skin from his foot. Then he turned to the Praetorian Guard.  
Behind them, in the darkness, there was the sound of a sharp but noisy cutting edge of metal followed by something like a bursting and forcing... the blood on the ground peeked out of the shadow, when cautiously Tom approached, noticed the black jet stone of the concubine of Rome in the midst of the thick pool.  
-Amazing," he exclaimed, picking it up gently. To abruptly crash it into the boy's throat. -Take this boy to his mother's quarters, but first remove any sharp objects, and have someone clean up this mess!  
His eyes went through the overturned glasses and plates, the bloody footprints that stained the mosaics?  
-Draco, you should take your father home. He's too old for such excitement.  
Draco was pale, totally shocked. Slowly, without taking her eyes off Tom, Morgana approached her fiancé and pulled at his sleeve. Moving like a puppet, she stood up and put one arm under her father's shoulder. They left while Severus watched them defiantly.  
Only one person was left: Me.  
I arched my back gracefully on the bed while the emperor's eyes were directed at me.Thanks to the gods, blood had not stained my dress.  
-I think I owe you a reward," said Tom, drawing near, with a strange excitement shining in his eyes, restrained.The stab in the foot had not diminished her desire...she could not believe it, Persephone had vanished from nowhere, literally, -for having triggered all this. What do you wish?  
Thanks to the gods, blood had not stained my dress. Persephone had vanished from nowhere, literally  
-I think I owe you a reward," said Tom, drawing near, with a strange excitement shining in his eyes, content. The stab in the foot had not diminished his desire... - for having triggered all this. What do you wish?  
-Oh, I think you can imagine, Lord and God.  
I got off the bed and knelt down before him, stroking his leg.  
-You are hurt. Let me heal you, Lord and God.  
I wrapped a napkin around the wound on his foot, bent over his head and kissed the strands of blood on his ankle.  
He lifted me up and kissed me hard. I glued my body to his, feeling excitement cramps down my spine.  
-Yes," he said, determined, "you will serve me. Come here.  
He possessed me in the middle of that bloody room.

HERMIONE

The guards stopped in a muddy turnip field outside the city walls. The one holding me forced me to look at him, his eyes were hard and surly, but one could not overlook his exaltation for the whole situation.  
-The astrologer called us to carry out an order from the emperor...we know perfectly well that it was not so.  
I looked at them blankly, my neck was bleeding constantly in a dangerously close stream, the cut I had made was superficial even though the bleeding was shocking.  
\- Some Romans believe in destiny, and we are faithful not so much to one Lord and God as to predictions and commandments," he continued, "we often hear Remus mention that you cannot die as often as you evaluate your future.  
I looked away at the mention of that and the failed times of death. Severus, I was the only one I could think of.  
-We don't care much what you do or where you go after this, our work in the palace is over...deal with it however you can if that's true. It no longer concerns us. They got on their horses consecutively and left the place.  
Severus.  
I gathered my strength to get up and staggered for a few moments. My stomach was burning. I still had half a dozen open wounds and the blood mixed with the rain as soon as it came.  
However, I had gotten worse after some of Tom's "bed wrestling" sessions. This time, at least I was able to stay on my feet. And it wasn't my first time in the wilderness wandering around homeless and without any help to manage on my own.   
I started walking, unsure, stumbling over the muddy fields. I walked until the rain stopped and the sun came out pale and watery. I walked until the sun reached its zenith among the untiring clouds, and until it hid again. I lay down to rest for a while in a ditch and got up when the cold became unbearable to go on.   
I was aware of where I was going despite my little strength and almost no energy left, I was able to see the village of Luna leaning out on the orange horizon, on the outskirts of Tivoli.  
He lives in a cabin," Severus had told me, "in the vineyards of the north wing of the property of the Luna Estate.  
I crossed the vineyards with difficulty, scratching my face with the leaves of the vines and tearing even more my dress with its branches. On the side of a hill I saw a round hut, similar to those in Brigantia.  
After twenty-five kilometers of hard walking, my feet failed me and I was unable to walk the last twenty-five meters. But my noise was enough to draw the attention of the owner of the house who opened his door  
-Harry," I said, feeling his frantic arms grabbing me by the chest, remembering the sensations and the familiar grip of old times, "Harry.

HARRY

Hermione collapsed like a doll before the fire as she cleaned the mud and blood scabs from her face.  
-He kept it," she concluded.  
I felt the rage building up inside me, but I made an effort to ignore it and said  
-Let's see your hands.  
She had three broken fingers. I bandaged them and splinted them, as I had seen the gladiator's doctor do on numerous occasions. I had heard the story amidst fits of rage. In the midst of the agony over the boy, I felt a wave of compassion for Mrs. Luna, the woman who had taken me out of the Coliseum. She would probably die by execution. She would never again sit in her sunny atrium embroidering a shawl or sneaking into the bowels of the Colosseum to snatch children from the clutches of death. Mrs. Luna, who had given me a hut for him alone and was angry that I was ruining her grapes The Praetorian Guard had already arrived at the villa the morning before Hermione's arrival, but they did not inspect the remote vineyards and s I did not give his visit any more importance.  
-Shhh," I whispered, "go to sleep.  
-But Severus...  
-We'll get him back.  
In my mind I saw Severus throwing himself at the emperor with a table knife in his hand. Why would he have taught the boy to fight? I hated me and at the same time I was relieved that he was protecting his mother.  
-I can't sleep," she said, although her eyes closed as she took her to bed.  
When I posed her on the pallet, her face broke into a grimace of pain.  
-What's wrong?  
-Nothing... my ribs.  
I started to unbutton her dress.  
-No," she said, trying to resist weakly.  
I took off her torn silks, feeling her body for broken bones.  
I only found one bruise on her breast, the greenish color of which indicated that it was not recent. How would she have received such a severe blow there?  
My fingers found another, and another. I undressed her completely.  
-Harry," whispered Hermione.  
In the light of the fire, the scars and the marks of blows and burns were barely visible, but the most enigmatic and surprising thing was to see shining and feeling metal melted in a kind of drops drained in some places, the shoulder chest trunk and some almost to the hip...then I turned my sight to the cut of the clavicle where I had to work with the emorrhage: the metal must have dried in the halo where the other metal and scar were.  
I looked at her. I didn't know what expression she had on her face, she was parsimonious...as if waiting for a reaction to a secret enormity revealed.   
I wanted to touch her face, but I stopped because all the muscles in her body had been put under tension. I put my hand away and wrapped it around her dress again.  
-You are all right," I said.  
She shuddered. Her eyes were filled with a sickly hatred of everything.  
-Sleep," I said, getting up and stretching my cape over the wall to lie down, "stay in bed.  
She settled her head and shrank into a ball. She took quite a while to fall asleep.  
I didn't fall asleep all night.  
Be careful, big guy," Ron told me, "don't remove the dead, let it be. But Ron was rotting in a grave. Dean the gardener would die with Mrs. Luna, but Harry the Barbarian was still alive.  
I dug up the demon one by one. The monster unscrewed and stretched out, yawning after its long sleep. Then he settled down and the two of them, Harry and his demon, planned with great pleasure what they were going to do to the emperor of Rome.

SEVERUS

This Draco was by my side at that time. As I looked taciturnly at the huge white statue with my mother's face at the end of the corridor.  
-Look," he grunted, haughty and remorseful, "I'm almost his height and it wasn't like he was very big, the problem was behind that door, that's the only reason I could stand it. -Shut up and do everything the emperor asks.  
-Okay.  
Although it was cold in the marble room, sweat ran down my forehead.  
-What went through your mind? -he asked me-How did it occur to you to try to stab the emperor?  
-I don't know," I answered, and the chains around my wrists and ankles clattered. -At that moment it seemed like a good idea. Now it doesn't seem like a good choice, but...  
The guards opened the door wide and the man pushed me into the gloomy triclinium. The emperor, wrapped in a black robe, was lying on black velvet cushions on an ebony bed. His eyes were as dark as the walls. The only white note in the room was the bandage that wrapped his foot. For once, there were no servants, no slaves, no secretaries.  
-Stay," the emperor ordered Draco without looking away from me.  
Out of the corner of my eye I saw that he tried to merge with the wall. I tried to think in my mind to make it more comical and less serious.  
-Sit down, boy.  
I sat on a black silk cushion at the foot of the emperor's bed.  
-I hope your new room will be comfortable for you.  
I looked at him without answering.  
-You have a tongue, don't you? I have not yet ordered it to be cut out. Later, perhaps.  
I blinked for the minutes that were lost in nothingness.  
-If you're not going to talk, pass me the wine carafe. Don't bother looking for weapons on the table, I've ordered any sharp objects to be removed.  
After a pause, I brought him the ebony-colored wine carafe. The drink looked like a colorful jet of ruby in the darkness of the room.  
-The wine soothes the pain in my foot," said the emperor, and he looked at his bandaged limb with some surprise. The doctor says it will heal soon.  
-Can I drink a little? -I asked, wanting to be indifferent. A gesture copied from my parents.  
He passed me his own glass, impassively. I ostentatiously wiped the onyx rim with my sleeve, took a long drink and returned the glass to him.  
-Well," said the emperor as he lay down on the black cushions, "what should I do with you?  
-You could let me go," I proposed.  
-No, I don't think so.  
-This wine is worth tasting.  
-Right.  
We stared at each other, in silence.  
-All in black," I commented, looking at the dark triclinium, "how frightening!  
I moved his hands to make the chains tinkle and hide the fact that I was shaking.  
-I haven't decided what to do with you yet, Severus," thought the emperor. I could throw you to the lions, or maybe castrate you.- Would you like to sing, like your mother?  
-I have no ear for music.  
-Then you are a man of the sword, like your father. Who was your father?  
-I don't know.  
I tinkled the chains.  
-Liar," he said, pleased, "we'll have to work on that.  
-I can't wait.  
More tinkling.  
-Stop.  
-Stop what?  
Jingle.  
-That sound. It bothers me. The ears of a god are very fine.  
-Well, we all have our problems.  
Again, tinkling of chains.  
-Stop it!  
-Okay.  
They were contemplated. Draco opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again.   
-You're going to kill me," I said, "aren't you?  
-We will see.  
-We'll see. I have already been told. The gods crush mortals like ants.  
-So you think I'm a god?  
-Well, I'm not sure," I said with a smile. What is certain is that you bleed like mortals, Caesar.  
He looked down at his foot wrapped in bandages.  
-You stabbed me with a knife," he said, with a marvelous tone in his voice. -I have been ruling this Empire for fourteen years and I have never been hurt before. Until now.  
-There is always a first time for everything.  
-Not for me. I am Lord and God.  
-Of course.  
There was a silence.  
-Do you know what trick your mother used? I sent the Praetorian Guard to look around. She just vanished, magically, or if she's in town... It'll be easy to find, if I feel like it.  
I stared at him.  
-I could pick it up tomorrow, if I wanted to, and bring it back. You'd like that, wouldn't you?...If she's not dead.  
I took a step forward so suddenly that Draco put his hand to the sword.  
-She's dead! Isn't it obvious? You sent her off to do something-I shouted to the emperor, in that moment longing to unscrew my inner demon so that I would be angry and face better. Although I was so shocked in reality, what had that been?  
-At what point? -he asked in a paternalistic tone. "You saw what happened, it vanished as if in a snap, leaving my eye for you... or has it just escaped, leaving you to your own devices? That's how your mother would pay you back - he mumbled  
-Let's make a deal. Forget about her and just stay with me," I said. The "gods" knew I didn't want her to be dead at all, but it was better to express that possibility at the top of my lungs to that snake so that it would be convinced.  
-You're going to be pushy! Do you want me to leave you alive so you can stick a knife in my back again?  
-I'm sure this will make your life more interesting.  
Draco jumped up and down...yes, I was a stupid fool, I laughed internally in a nervous way.  
He tilted his head and looked at me strangely.  
-Are you afraid of me?  
I looked at him as if he were an idiot.  
-You only have to say one word and that guy over there would turn me into a pile of guts and blood on the floor. Of course I'm scared of you. I'm shitting myself!  
He kept looking at me.  
-You have too much pride to make a deal with a slave-I made fun of him as sweat streamed down my forehead,- didn't I, Adonis?  
There was a long, tense pause. Draco shuddered. No one was making fun of his fine appearance in front of the emperor. The last person who dared to do so...  
-Well, no," answered the emperor, thoughtfully, "I don't think I have so much pride as to refuse to make a deal with a slave, Severus.  
I offered him my hand roughly and clumsily, as a game, and, incredible as it was, the emperor shook it. Palm against palm, flesh against flesh. Bones bending, knuckles turning white, to see who could hold out the most.  
Both of us looked into each other's eyes, without giving in.  
-Well," he smiled, "I guess I must enjoy this moment. Your mother was a great challenge, but I think you're going to be even greater, Severus? kid.  
-Only my mother calls me that.  
-Don't forget that I could be your father.  
-It seems there is only one God," I muttered.  
Finally, Draco took me out of that room.  
-Are you crazy? -he mumbled to me-How can you talk to the emperor like that? It's even worse than trying to stab him!  
-Mother told me that he likes to play with people," I said.- I thought it would work.  
He took a few steps away, picking up his robe. Then she saw the wet spot on my cloth. On my crotch.  
-Does that make you laugh?- I said, challenging him-If you laugh at me, I'll break your face. Little palace soldier, you'll think you're a tough guy.  
I shoved Draco in the chest with my trembling hands.  
-No," he sighed, "I am not laughing at you.  
He led me into the room.

ALBUS

The Emperor's cousin, Morfin Gauntt, and his eldest son were executed on the Gemonies stairs, also known as the Stairs of Sighs. Two days later it was Luna Lovegood's turn. She was taken from her cell. The charge against her was impiety.  
I watched her in the crowd, standing, surrounded by commoners, burning with fury inside me. I had raised my voice as much as I could against that injustice in the Senate, but no one supported me. All I could do was watch Luna walk to the scaffold in the same dress she had reserved for the banquet where her children would be named heirs of the emperor. One of his sons was already dead. No one knew if the little one was still alive.  
The older one is old enough to be ambitious," Tom said.- As for the little one, I haven't made a decision yet. No one dared to ask him. The more cheerful courtiers made bets on whether the child would have been sent into exile or strangled in his cell. The emperor did not worry about attending his niece's execution.  
The crowd was silent as Luna took her last walk. No one dared protest, but she was a popular woman. She had fulfilled her duty to give children and heirs, and was generous with beggars and children. Of course, she was a Christian, but always bowed to the gods. Now she would look at her last moments of life with a blood-stained gaze. Her son, in case he was still alive, would not survive him too long. The last branches of the Slytherin family tree would be cut down forever.  
-Stop!  
I turned my head when I heard the voice. A figure wrapped in white appeared, covered by the red and gold of the imperial guards.  
-Get out of the way! -shouted the guards. We took Luna Lovegood to his execution.  
-What are the charges against her? -asked that soft, calm, female voice.  
Luna waited patiently, like an ox waiting for the sacrificial axe.  
-Cleanliness. Now, get out of our way, lady.  
-I am the vestal Astoria. In the name of Vesta, I declare this woman innocent of the charges against her. Using my authority as a priestess, I hereby annul the death sentence imposed upon her.  
The crowd began to murmur. Luna opened her eyes.  
-Oh," I said.  
The guards stopped. Clearing his throat, the chief said:  
-But... We can't...  
-Dare you disobey Vesta's laws? -said the priestess, magnifying herself with every word.  
-No, but... the emperor...  
-The emperor has no voice in this matter. My goddess has extended her merciful hand over this prisoner. If you execute her, you expose yourself to the divine wrath.  
The praetorian tried to gain time.  
-We have... You must accompany us before the emperor, madam. We cannot...  
-Go ahead. I am sure you will not dare to disregard the most ancient laws of Rome in front of all the people.  
The vestal advanced between a pair of guards; its head, covered by the veil, was tiny between the armour and the shoulder pads of the soldiers. Luna would not take her eyes off it and would rub her eyes, confused. I clearly heard his voice while the guards turned around and led the two women toward the Domus Augustana among the crowd that did not stop murmuring.  
-Why did you... What? Why?  
-Vesta asked me to save you," said the priestess calmly.  
-But I don't believe in her. I'm a Christian, one of those who paint fish on the walls, I don't believe in her...  
-That doesn't matter. She wants you to live.  
-But...  
They went away from me. But I could still see the terror in Luna's eyes as she looked at her savior. The same terror I felt inside, for I knew that voice very well.  
-Her death for yours," I said aloud. -The emperor will not accept anything else.

HARRY  
-Tom is devious," she said, "but Severus is more devious. He will be fine.  
Sitting by the fire, I didn't answer. I had a strange feeling of spite...one that didn't allow me to feel like talking to her for days. Perhaps the assumption that I was not the same and never would be, now instead of howling at the demon as before, she called him.  
-Tom's weakness is games, he can't stop playing with people.   
My cat purred in his lap, as I caressed her endlessly.  
-He'll be fine, I'm sure.  
I suddenly raised my head.  
-Silence!  
I sniffed the air like a wolf scanning the wind. I jumped up to the door and left the cabin. She remained impassive, hugging the cat.  
-The Praetorian Guard! Get your cape.  
After a while, she climbed back up as if nothing had happened, so to speak. She took the cape and the piece of bread that we were saving for dinner. I stirred under my mattress and pulled out the long metal bar.  
-I didn't know you kept a sword," she said.  
I wielded it for a moment, drawing an eight in the air, and the flashes of the blade reflected the flashes of the metal on her skin. My eyes shone...  
Yes, I kept a sword, as well as the blackness of my eternal demon.  
-Ready?  
She took the kitten and we left the cabin. I took one last look at the village and, despite the distance, I could hear the sound of ceramics breaking. Tom's guards had come here before, most certainly to bring their master anything of value. Now they had returned to complete the destruction. The traitors' possessions became the property of the Empire, their fields were sown with salt and their names were never spoken again. For a man who hated the Jews, he had a taste for revenge that was very Hebrew, I suppose.  
I walked through the middle of the vineyards, politely brushing off the branches for her, though she barely kept up with me. I had never tried to touch her again, and I knew well that she would ask me not to.  
The cat let out a strident shriek as she saw the orange flames climbing towards the sky from the roof of the village. I closed her mouth with my hand and continued in the direction of Rome.  
Towards our son


	11. XI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boooo;)!

DRACO  
Astoria stepped away from the window of her cold, wet cell and said:  
-"Wow, Draco, I think that's the first time you've ever yelled at me.  
-I'm shouting at you? -I exclaimed, "I'm shouting at you? The whole city is talking about nothing else: the vestal that stood before the Praetorian Guard and granted the goddess' forgiveness.  
She looked at me calmly and my frenzied anger subsided a little.  
-I don't know what the emperor will do with you now.  
-Leave it, everything is in Vesta's hands," she said, offering me a smile with a slight tremor at the corner of her lips. She covered her face with the veil and added: "Take me to her presence.  
I looked at her for a few moments, trying to guess her eyes behind the silk barrier. I remembered that the vestal virgins covered her face only once: during the sacrifices.

-So this is the vestal," said Tom.  
The emperor was at his desk before a pile of petitions, maps and letters, with Persephone's son sitting cross-legged at his feet as he had been doing of late. The boy dozed off, and Tom himself seemed tired, barely interested in the traitors after a long day's work. I felt a vague ray of hope.  
Then Astoria took off her veil and the headdress that covered her hair, leaving a fine, dark hair uncovered.  
-Hello, uncle," she said, smiling, to the emperor.  
For a few moments there was such an absolute silence that I thought there would never be another sound.  
Severus opened his eyes and looked at the vestal in wonder, just like me, in search of the woman he loved.  
But instead I found a stranger. By the light of the lamps, I saw the marked nose of the Slytherin family, the curly hair I had seen carved in marble, falling on the neck of a vestal robe, the dark eyes full of mystery so similar to Tom's.  
A buried memory emerged to the surface: a little princess carrying her children's play flags. "I feel like I've known you forever," I had told her once, "since before I saw you for the first time.  
-Helena? -I said to the Emperor Gellert's daughter, Salazar's granddaughter, Tom's niece (and according to some, lover): Mrs. Helena Ravenclaw, member of the divine and imperial Slytherin dynasty.  
And I who asked her to marry me, I thought, ashamed.  
-Helena," repeated the emperor.  
His gesture was so strange, so complicated, that I knew I could not define him in a thousand years. But I was afraid.  
-Lord," I said, "I apologize for having brought this impostor into your presence. I will take her away and she will receive the punishment she deserves.  
-No," said the emperor, absent, devouring his niece with his eyes, "she is not an impostor. Tell me, Draco, did you know that?  
I had a dry throat.  
-No," she said -he did not suspect anything.  
-Now everything fits," commented Tom in the same meditative tone.- That's why you decided to grant forgiveness to that crying Luna. Of course, your pardon is not valid, because only a vestal virgin can revoke a death sentence of the emperor, and you... are not a virgin at all.  
Incredible as it may seem, she smiled.   
-But if you intend to contravene my pardon granted in public, people will ask you for an explanation. What will you tell them?  
-An emperor does not have to give explanations.  
-You have spent your whole life trying to justify yourself in order to avoid the weight of my father's shadow.  
He stirred restlessly and asked:  
-Where have you been all this time?  
-In the temple of Vesta, where I always wanted to be. I had to die in order to enter there.  
-They said you were pregnant.  
-Nothing of the sort. I tried to take my life, but -a smile lit up her face- Vesta didn't want me to die, so I went to join her. She didn't care about the virginity issue.  
-Someone would help you escape," Tom protested.  
-The high priestess of the vestals, who is already dead. And a couple of other people, whom I won't name.  
After a long pause, he said:  
-I can still kill Luna, you know. I've traded the execution for exile. Tomorrow she will be taken to Pandateria, do you know it? It is an islet in the middle of the sea, barely a square mile in size. Several imperial ladies have died there, some even having the same name as you. What does it matter if a royal prisoner falls off a cliff and breaks her neck?  
-People will know and think the worst because, dear uncle, the Roman people do not hold you in high esteem.  
Severus, curled up on the floor like a dog, let out a muffled chuckle. Tom gave him a disapproving look before turning to his niece and saying:  
-Well, don't you think I'm appreciated, do you think it torments me?  
-Correct," said Helena, imitating him.  
Before I have time to blink, Tom already had his hands around his niece's throat. I needed the help of two guards to get him away from her. Severus took the opportunity to get out of the way and take refuge in a secluded corner of the room.  
-Tie her up," ordered the emperor to the guards, with shortness of breath. -Tie her up, right now!  
Tom had to shout to the guards, who were reluctant to lay their hands on a princess, a priestess or whatever that woman was.  
I looked away from the red marks that the emperor's fingers had left on Helena's throat, who offered her wrists to the guards without any resistance.  
-Lord," I said to the emperor, "Caesar, please...  
The thundering voice silenced me.  
-Guards, hold Prefect Malfoy.  
Members of the Praetorian Guard held me by the elbows, but I managed to drop an arm and rest it on the emperor's elbow.  
-Cesar, have I ever asked you for anything?  
Tom meditated for a moment. In his furious gaze, love shone for a moment.  
-No," he said, and rested his hand on his lieutenant's, "no, never. But now, be silent.  
He turned towards Helena and touched her hair, just where her locks fell on his shoulders like the veil of a vestal.  
-I have a lock of this hair in my private quarters," he mused, "next to the urn that contains your ashes. Although I suppose they will not be yours. Only the hair is real. You just gave your life for your stepsister. Was it worth it?  
-It was the will of my goddess.  
-Would you do it again?  
-Of course I would.  
-Then I will give you the chance to do it again. Guards!  
He whispered orders in the ears of the guards, who came out of the room. I turned away, unable to look at Luna. But it was not Mrs. Luna who was brought in, but her little son. Pale, chained, emaciated, trying to adopt a courageous gesture. The last heir of the house of Slytherin. Severus watched everything in surprise from a corner.  
-Luna Lovegood's son- introduced them Tom, unnecessarily- Say hello to your aunt Helena, little one.  
Trembling, the boy bowed his head.  
\- The last member of his family," added the emperor, "his father and brother have died, and his mother is about to walk the same way. What shall we do with him? Are you going to save him too, Helena?  
-If it is in my hand," she answered in a low but firm voice.  
-Ah, can you? That's the question. What would you give to save this child?  
-My life.  
-But you've given your life before, haven't you? For his mother. What more can you offer for him?  
The boy alternated his gaze between the emperor and his aunt, containing a groan that came from the bottom of his throat. Severus stood frozen in his corner and I dared not make a sound.  
-What do you want, uncle? -he asked, very quietly. -That is the real question.  
Tom burst out laughing, that open laughter so attractive that it rarely escaped him.  
-Of course, that's always the point. At least for you. Because that's why you're in this world, Helena, to please me. So, if you do me the favor of promising me that you will continue to please me for the rest of your life, I will let the child go.  
-Oh, uncle," she said sadly, "I don't think there's anything in this world that really pleases you.  
I looked at the scene in astonishment. Luna's son opened his mouth and let out a muffled scream.  
-You are right," he admitted, "you always understood me better than anyone else.  
I was still surprised. Although my hair was already standing on end, it stood up even more when Tom took out his dagger and stuck it into Luna's son's stomach.  
The boy opened his mouth and, without making a sound, fell slowly onto the tiles. It seemed to me that it took forever to touch the floor.  
For a terrible moment everything remained frozen. I, with my hands half stretched to stop that fatal blow; the boy, holding his guts on the ground while blood was flooding the mosaics; the emperor, wiping his hands on his robe, where red stains remained; Severus, stopped about to stand up from his corner; Helena, motionless as a statue of her goddess. But the marble of the statue became flesh and she said with much fortitude:  
-Draco, get the boy out of here. Severus, help him.  
We obeyed in unison.  
-That," said Tom without addressing anyone in particular and dropping the dagger, "that is... Helena.  
The emperor pounced on his niece, tearing the veil from her shoulders.  
I pretended to turn around, but she looked down at me over her uncle's shoulder. There was so much confidence in her eyes that I continued to take Luna's son, who was howling in pain, to the antechamber of the emperor's chambers.  
-She'll be able to take care of herself," Severus told me. -Help me.  
He had something curled up in his hand as he tried to plug the open wound in the prince's belly.  
I heard guttural sounds in the bedroom, but they were not coming from her. I stood up and went back to the room, but the guards blocked my way.  
-Do you want to die, Prefect?-the optio asked me-Leave him alone!  
I approached, knelt down as best I could and looked for the pulse of the dying prince. Severus' fingers were covered in almost black blood that gushed from the wound.  
-He's dying," I said, dazed.- He's going to die.  
-Are you going to help or not, Prefect? -protested the boy, who sweated and swore endlessly to plug the wound with the veil.  
Anguished grunts were heard coming from the room. Something more like an animal in heat than an emperor. But her voice was not heard. I felt a groaning sound pierce my throat like an ice sliver. I was overcome by a terrible thought: "Maybe if you have her, he will spare her life".  
Luna's son let out a howl of pain. Severus leaned his full weight against the veil. His robe and his knees were covered with blood. The heavy eyelids of the boy trembled. The slaves began to swirl, their eyes open like plates, and I cursed them loudly to get out of the way.  
The child cried out, taking his weak arms to his stomach. Severus tightened his grip on the wound. The eyes of the small member of the Slytherin dynasty opened and looked at Severus, full of pain.  
Kneeling in a pool of blood, my heart was racing.  
-Bitch! -a cry was heard from inside the room. It was the voice of the emperor, heavy and slow..." Slut! Get out of here!  
The guards guarding the door looked at each other, undecided.  
-You heard it! -I exclaimed, rising and throwing myself over the door, about to slip.  
I observed everything at a glance: the emperor, sunk on the mattress, and Helena putting on her white robe in silence.  
-Take her away! -ordered the emperor, and my whole body shook. By the gods, take her away.  
I caught Helena with trembling hands, but the steps of the girl as she left the room were firm as a rock. I led her through the pools of blood, leaving Severus behind, who was helping the boy to lie down.  
-The guards will take me," she said, "help Severus with my nephew. It needs that you help them to leave the palace.  
-He will not survive. His guts are open.  
-Sure?  
Severus passed an arm under his friend's shoulder and helped him to stand up. He looked up, cautious, and she offered him a cordial greeting with a nod. Her eyes, under the reflection of the lamps, did not seem very... human.  
-Give my regards to your mother, Severus," she said, before the guards took her away, pulling at the sleeves of her dress without daring to touch her skin, as if to burn them.  
As she passed, she left traces of blood on the mosaics.  
-We have to get him out of here," said Severus.  
The boy, beside him, was writhing in pain but was not dying. He was pressing his veil, which was already redder than white, against his stomach.  
-I thought so," I muttered. -I didn't really see the emperor nail it down. I could not.  
-You're going to faint," said Severus, disgusted.  
I felt a tremendous urge to laugh, with enormous hysterical laughter. I wanted to laugh myself to death. But there were more guards running around, as well as curious courtiers and gawking slaves. I took off my red praetor's cloak, wiggling my fingers like a fool, and wrapped it around the boy. Severus covered the little boy's face with a fold.  
-Attend to the emperor," I ordered the guards, "let his personal physician come! I'll take care of the boy.  
-Prefect, where are you taking him?  
-These are the emperor's orders," I answered sharply. -Confidential orders.  
The guards looked away at once.  
-How are you?" asked Severus to the prince while they took him out of the antechamber away from the audience, which did not stop growing.  
-Strange... I feel... I don't know," replied the little one, about to burst into tears.  
Under the cape, I felt the veil. Underneath there was a long but shallow cut that bled a little, but not the mortal wound it had originally caused.  
-I think the idiot emperor missed the blow," commented Severus. -You were lucky.  
Lucky? I didn't want to hear about it.  
At the outer door, I sent Severus back and left with Luna's son.  
-What are you going to do with me? -asked the young prince.  
Tell the emperor that you died of the wound, I thought, and that I disposed of your body.  
-Don't move," I said, whipping my horse with the boy bent over the saddle in front of me.  
At a half gallop, I presented myself at my father's house at nightfall, thinking of desperate explanations to give him. However, to my surprise, he did not need many words.  
-Good boy" was all he said, and in a second he sent the slaves away and brought the exhausted boy inside.  
-The emperor," I said, with a leaden tongue, "must never know that  
-He will not," he replied coldly. -The boy will be out of the city before dawn.  
-The vestal... -I said.  
-There's no time to talk about it now," he replied, who did not seem surprised by the news.  
-Did you know?  
-Do you think he managed to fake his own death without help? Go back to the palace, son, before you are missed.  
I passed by the circular temple of Vesta earlier. Looking up, I saw that the other priestesses were watching me in a silent white line. All of them had their faces covered by a veil.  
I took the bloody veil and placed it on the first step. My knees weakened, and I sat beside them until a couple of praetorians came to get it.

The old year had already passed and, by decree of the emperor, Rome would receive the new year with an execution.  
A strange and resentful mass gathered to see Luna sent into exile and the vestal to death. The emperor declared the day as a festive day, but the banners were hanging withered, the petals looked like tears and the trumpets sounded like a funereal song. "Bad luck," people murmured, "bad luck. A priestess and a princess fell into disgrace when we were just one day into the new year, which surely did not come loaded with anything good.  
I was sunk while escorting the prisoners on my black horse.  
A general murmur received the two condemned women, who were heading towards their destinies surrounded by a group of praetorians. They were both tall and with straight hair. One wore a dirty coral palla and the other an immaculate vestal dress. A boat awaited Luna and then a tiny island, while Helena was awaited only by a walled-up, airless chamber.  
The vestals that broke their vows were buried alive.  
Holding each other's arms, the two women crossed the street.  
-Why? -Luna mused in a weak voice-To stay alive on an island for the next forty years? Is that more merciful than death?  
-Who said the gods were merciful? -commented Helena in a friendly voice.  
-I know they are not. Neither yours nor mine. My children are dead. The eldest with his father, and the youngest... I don't know when they will execute him.  
-I wouldn't give up hope yet, Luna.  
-No, I know Tom. He hates children because they remind him that he is mortal. He took his own children out of his wife's womb before they were born, and he will kill mine too.  
-Look at the horizon.  
-What?  
-When you get to Pandateria, look at the horizon. It's a quiet and peaceful place. Herbs swaying in the wind, quiet beaches and a small stone house with a small oratory. You will be alone, and the silence may be unbearable at first, so listen to the birds' trills and look at the horizon. You will not be alone for long. One day, soon, you will see a ship appear, sailing the seas. A red boat, I think, with rows of oars on each side. You will think they are pirates and you will want to escape, but you will stay and face them with pride, because you belong to the Slytherin dynasty and you will want to die as one of them. But the galley will not dock. A small fishing boat will come down from it, without oars, and the tide will carry it to the shore. Before it arrives, you will see who is sitting on that boat, raising their arms and calling you from afar. You will jump into the sea, shouting your child's name.  
-It can't be," said Luna, in a whisper. -How can you tell?  
-Sometimes I see things. And you have another reason to live, Luna Lovegood.  
I turned to look at her and saw Helena holding a hand on Luna's belly.  
-What?  
-We'd better keep walking, I don't want to put Draco in another fix," she said, pushing her sister forward.- A daughter. You can't feel her yet, but she's there. She will be born in the summer, in Pandateria, and I am almost convinced that you will name her after me. Tears came to my eyes, I looked forward blindly.  
-But how?  
-Simply, I know. Let's leave it at that. I know, but I'm the only one. Tom will never find out. Once he deposits you on your lonely island, he'll forget all about you. But the empress won't. She will see to it that you are fed, and I suppose she will even send a midwife to you when the time comes. She may even get you and your children off that island one day. She used to be a very confident woman, maybe I will be again.  
-...Helena  
-It's time," said the guard who accompanied me.  
-No!" cried Luna. No! I can't!  
-Calm down," said Helena, very calmly.-Have a good trip, Luna Lovegood. And if you don't mind, name your daughter after me.  
In a whisper, Luna left.

You couldn't kill a vestal within the walls of Rome. That's why a small chamber had been built near the Porta Collina, in the Campus Sceleratus, a place better known as the "fields of evil". The emperor had ordered a dais to be set up on which he observed the ceremony, as if it were a festival. The crowd gathered murmured in a low voice when they saw the vestal virgin stop before her burial chamber and gather her snow-white clothes. I saw my father beside Morgana, with his hands joined in a strange way. On the dais was the empress, stiffer than ever, like a statue, the emperor, with rosy cheeks and a hard look, and Severus, uncomfortable in his scarlet robe.  
The vestal placed a bare foot on the edge of her grave and began to descend the stairs.  
-Stop!  
The tension could be chewed when I got off my horse and in less than a second I stood beside the priestess and took her arm.  
-Astoria! I say... Helena.  
-Astoria, I prefer it. It's my true identity, it represents what I am... what I showed you.  
-It's true," I said, "I could barely see it from the tears that were flooding my eyes. -I can't let you do that.  
-And what are you going to do? Run away with me on your shoulder? Kill the emperor?  
-Astoria...  
-Shhh," she quieted down, bringing a hand to my lips.  
I closed my eyes and pressed my mouth against her palm.We stayed like that for a few moments, until she let go like a ghost.  
Without opening my eyes, I heard her footsteps on the improvised steps. I imagined her hair like onyx entering the tomb, I imagined how they sealed the chamber and left it inside. I heard the dreadful sound of shovels of earth covering the entrance to the tomb.  
I opened my eyes. From the dais, Tom watched with his impassive black eyes as they buried his niece alive. He smiled and told me:  
-"Shall we play a game of dice later, Prefect?  
And he went back to his papers.

HARRY

-Let's go," I said, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder.  
-She looked at me," she said, paranoid and distressed.  
-I've already seen it.  
She didn't open her mouth again until I closed the door of the tiny penthouse in the suburbs that I had managed to rent with my last savings. Then I dropped into the narrow, smelly bed and started shaking.  
-Before I went down to the grave, she took one last look at the crowd and her eyes were fixed on me. As if she knew I was there.  
-Hermione," I said, placing a hesitant hand on her shoulder.  
When I saw that she was not shaking, I put her next to me in bed and began to caress her hair. She was not crying, but her body was shaking violently from time to time. I thought of the man I had shared with Helena.  
Careful, careful. I pushed the demon out of my mind by sinking my face into Hermione's hair. I touched her temple with my lips, just to calm her down, then my mouth slipped to her earlobe and then to the dimple behind her jaw. She shuddered and I stepped aside, fearing that I had frightened her.   
But with a torn sigh, Hermione curled up against my chest again, placing her head between my shoulders.  
For a moment, I stood still, holding it as if it were made of glass. Then I slid her fingers through her hair, pulling her head back a little so that I could kiss her. Her mouth tasted as sweet and fresh as when she was eighteen.  
I noticed that she was getting tense again, but when I tried to move away she held me tightly. I kissed her again, softly, and then I kissed the marks that the emperor's necklace had left on her neck, and then the silver scars that the emperor's blacksmith had made under her breast. I took off her robe and made love to that body abused by luxury.   
She closed her eyes and arched her back with uncertain pleasure, and I touched her with all the eloquence my voice could never find, fighting with all my strength to make her stubborn and intelligent brain understand how much I loved her. And maybe it worked, because she kissed me with a moan as her arms closed like a vice around my neck. I felt a pinch of serene joy in every bone of my body. We fell asleep embracing each other like a tangle of warm rope, without a word.

HELENA  
In the temple of Vesta

This place underground is a small tomb, small enough so that I can touch all four walls without getting up from my stool. There is a candle whose flame illuminates weakly, because candles, like people, need air to breathe and there is less and less of it in this chamber.  
I sit in the flickering darkness and smile. Thank you, Vesta. I am grateful to you for so many things: thanks for allowing me to serve you, thanks for the man who loved me, thanks for giving me the courage to save my sister, thanks for the gift you gave her son.  
Thank you for a life that has been worth living.  
I bow a little and blow out the candle.  
Vesta, goddess of earth and home...  
Is that you?  
I didn't know you were so beautiful.

BELLATRIX

-It's wonderful," I commented, "what is it?  
-The extract of some flower," answered my imperial lover.  
He snatched the cup from my languid hand while an excited glow peeped into his eyes.  
Who would have thought that a flower mixed with old falerno wine would produce this pleasant slumber? He had quite peculiar tastes, but nothing that took any getting used to. One could learn to become excited by it.  
Besides, being the emperor's lover... was already quite exciting!  
A power a thousand times magnified. Now I was the mistress of Rome!  
As for Tom, the truth is that I don't know where all those dark rumors about him had come from. He was a normal man. Bad tempered, fickle, but a man after all. From the age of fourteen he knew how to handle men. Emperor or not, I would never let him be too confident about me. Sometimes, when the freedman of the palace would knock on my door, I would tell him I was not there, dropping that I had an appointment with other men. Sometimes I would throw myself at his feet in adoration, and other times I would simply smile at him from afar, just to keep his interest in me.  
-Get dressed," he said after finishing.  
He was already taking his files, tablets and blackboards. With a languid arm I covered my body with a silk fold.  
-By the way," I said, "you should do something about that astrologer of yours. He's so rude! I have asked him three times to read my horoscope and he ignores me.  
-He sees the future as clearly as the rest of us see the past," said my lover without looking up from his work. -His eyes are worth all the gold in Egypt.  
-For they are very rude eyes. He doesn't take his eyes off me.  
-Put your eyes away.  
-What a bad temper you have today, Lord and God! -I commented, turning over the bed, resting my chin on my hand and letting my hair fall over my eyes. -So you keep your astrologer because of his valuable eyes.And why do you keep that damned statue with the face of Persephone? You should have knocked it down months ago.  
Of course, that's what I was interested in knowing.  
-Do you want to have a memory of her forever? -I insisted on her imperial silence.  
Tom turned over a blackboard and quickly wrote down a series of figures.  
-Lord and God? -I asked, stroking his wrist.  
-Go home, and tell my secretary to come in," he ordered, pulling his arm away.  
I got out of bed, upset, and put on my dress with my fingers still unsteady from the effect of the drug. I left with my most tempting hip movement, but he didn't even look at me. Well, I had these strange character changes very often since the execution of the rebellious vestal. But it didn't matter, next time I would make him forget everything.  
-Watch your step," said a voice at my feet.  
I jumped up and down. In the marble corridor, outside the emperor's quarters, there was Hermione's son, sitting on the mosaics. He had a pair of grimy dice in his hand and, tilting his head, asked me:  
-A game?  
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the usual ruckus of freedmen and courtiers huddling together as I watched the emperor's two favorites speak.  
-Why not? -I said sweetly; I took the dice and threw them quickly, because they were surely full of the diseases of street rascals.  
The boy whistled, looking at the dice.  
-Bad luck, dominate Bellatrix.  
-What do you know about luck?  
-I'm lucky like my mother," he answered, "all Jews are born lucky, otherwise we wouldn't be alive.  
-What about your father? Didn't you inherit part of his luck? -I commented with a mischievous smile. -Gladiators are not as lucky as Jews.  
We looked at each other in silence. To please the audience (an emperor's favorite always has an audience) I patted him on the head. He tried to bite my fingers like a dog and I took a step back. I could not let down my guard with a child whose father was a man they called the Barbarian.  
I looked around. Hermione's son took a couple of fingers to his mouth and let out a high-pitched whistle that made all the slaves, freedmen and courtiers within fifty meters turn their heads.  
-I hope your luck changes, Bellatrix," he shouted, "or you're really screwed.  
A few chuckles came to my ears.

ALBUS

-Albus? -Morgana called from the library door, smiling. -What are you doing sitting in the dark?  
-Enjoying a beautiful spring sunset," I answered with another smile. -Would you like to join me?  
-Of course," she answered, and took a stool, -"although the sunset is on the other side.  
-I'm preparing a trip," I said, rolling up some papers.  
-For you?  
-No, it's not for me.  
It was for Luna's son, who was recovering safely in Brundisium's house. From there, it was a short trip by sea to Pandateria, where his mother was being held. The empress was in charge of keeping the secret safe. I will personally see to it that Luna and her son are taken care of," she had told me. This was Helena's last wish. Albus, I know she could not fake her own death and escape to the House of the Vestals without help. Did you have anything to do with it?" "Yes," I have answered. She wrote to me from Cremona when she came to her senses after her suicide attempt. Until then I had not believed her, but after that I helped her. The empress's eyes, usually impassive, shone.  
-Keep your secrets," said Morgana, interrupting my memories. She sat down beside me and turned her face towards the orange twilight. -I am not curious.  
-I know. Morgana, do you know that this makes you a very special woman?  
She smiled before saying:  
-I have sent a slave to Draco's quarters in the palace. They say he has not yet left his room except to work.  
-How long has he been locked up there?  
-Since the execution of the vestal.  
There was a moment of silence.  
-Delphi wants something," she said, filling my glass. -She has asked me to tell you, because she thinks I can convince you. She wants you to take her to the games with you tomorrow.  
-To the games? -I commented in surprise. She is too small to go to the games.  
-He says it was once before.  
-But I didn't let her watch. She was barely seven years old. She sat with her back to the massacre and played with the slaves... until the emperor started throwing people into the sand.  
-Well, she must have been very impressed, because she wants to go back. She says it will be interesting. She also says that Draco will go, and that she hardly ever sees him anymore. She is very excited. She put on the same face as you did in the last debate in the Senate, when you wanted to shore up the buildings in the South Side before they sank and Publius' clique opposed it.  
-I didn't know you attended Senate debates," I said, softly.  
-I sit in the back," she said, blushing.  
-I see," I smiled as I turned a calamus between my fingers. -So you think I should take Delphi to the games.  
-Are you asking my opinion?  
-I always keep it in mind.  
Morgana looked down and fiddled with the folds of her dress, but I could see her smile.  
-Take her so she can at least see Draco. Maybe he'll get a smile out of it. Then we can take her home before the blood starts.  
-No. She' ll stay until the end if she goes. A Dumbledore never closes his eyes to unpleasant things.   
-For heaven's sake, how awful. Then I'll have to stay until the end, too.  
-Are you going?  
-I'm going, and you owe me one, because I hate games.  
-What would I do without you, Morgana?  
-Dinner will be ready in a quarter of an hour," she said, putting a curl of hair behind her ear. -Pheasant with onions in bell pepper sauce.  
-For heaven's sake, how awful. Then I'll have to stay until the end, too.  
-Are you going?  
-I'm going, and you owe me one, because I hate games.  
-What would I do without you, Morgana?  
-Dinner will soon be ready, -she said, putting a curl of hair behind her ear. Pheasant with onions in bell pepper sauce.  
-Have you been tyrannizing the cook again?  
-She's horrible, I'm going to buy you a new one.  
-Didn't I have to be the one to buy you a wedding present?  
-I'm not married yet, Albus Dumbledore.

HARRY

-Today is his birthday," she said, resting her chin on her hand. -The ides of June. He is already thirteen years old.  
-I was going to give him a sword," I muttered, putting my tunic over my head.  
-To encourage him to be a gladiator, Barbarian? -she scoffed.  
-Hermione, our son wants to be a gladiator," I said, poking my head through the neck of the robe. -He is an idiot.  
-Well, yes," she agreed as she scratched the ears of the cat, who was curled up on her knees. -He is an idiot. He must have gone out to his father.  
I grabbed her by the waist and sat her on my lap. She hit me in the chest and the cat fell to the ground, letting out a high-pitched roar of protest.   
-Kiss me," I whispered.  
She smiled and her eyelashes caressed my cheeks. On days like that, blue mornings when the sun warmed our attic room, where our warlike bodies were dazzled. With the brightness of her eyes reborn, it was possible to believe, not only to have hope, that everything would be all right.  
-Your hair is growing," she said, running a hand over the back of my neck and I trembled at the touch. -Shall I cut it?  
-Better to leave it long, so I don't look like the Barbarian.  
-You don't look like the Barbarian in that stupid costume anymore.  
Every time we went out on the street, I put on a heavy cape, a hat and an eye patch. My new combat kit was as much or more criticized than my botanical skills.  
-If I went out without a disguise, someone might recognize me. I'm supposed to be dead.  
-Honey," she said condescendingly, placing a finger under my chin and looking into my eyes, "no one recognized you. No one turns around to look at you, only to think, "Who is that weird guy in the patch who wears a hat and cape in the middle of summer?  
-For eight years, my face was the most famous in Rome," I protested, a little annoyed.  
-But it's been five years since you died. The masses only remember you as a legend from the past. Now everyone is talking about Viktor Krum, so give me your knife, you'll be stinging me in bed  
I lowered my head and began to shave my hair with satisfaction, watching the dyed locks of corn fall to the splintered ground.  
-Viktor Krum? -I asked, after a while.  
-There is also a very popular Thracian. I saw graffiti on the walls of the bathrooms on Calle de la Granada. "Cedric the Thracian, the whim of women."  
-Cedric, eh? -I mumbled. My name was on the walls of those baths for years.  
Shelaughed and I turned my cheek against her hand.  
-Someday we'll shave that beard too," she said.-Don't sting, spiders.  
-What are you talking about?  
She lowered her shoulder from her robe and I could see a red mark.  
-Did I do that?  
-It's all right," she said, cutting the hair off the back of my neck again, and she added something in Greek that I could discern from the hot message on the mahogany orbs.  
There was never anything like the moments when time stood still, and not for anything discouraging, but joyful, glorious, and peaceful in your life; just at that moment I experienced one of them buried for the fifth or tenth time in the figure of bliss. Never at any time; good or bad, would I have thought that the pleasure of the flesh could reach the point of going around your world and truly feeling the magic: something that you cannot describe.  
I finally ran my seed, she took a little leap to free me and continued to brush the last little hairs left on my shoulder. And we continued to bond, she with her head on my chest.  
-Is it a good idea to go to the Coliseum?  
-Yes," I said, kissing her eyebrows, "we'll go to see Severus, not the games.  
-They won't let us sit together, the women have their separate section.  
I frowned:  
-They will let you sit with me.  
We would choose days by mixing with the crowd that followed the emperor on his daily tours of the city and contemplating the figure wrapped in a red robe that always accompanied him. The Romans called it "The Emperor's Toy". There were rumors that he was their bastard son. He never went more than a meter away from him. There was no hope of catching him and running away.   
Nor did we have any chance of sneaking into the palace: we were just two runaway, tattered slaves who couldn't bribe anyone.  
Even if we did manage to rescue him, was there any chance that the stinking vermin would not follow us wherever we went?  
Hermione really wasn't that clear about my plans.  
-Come on.  
For the first time since we returned to Rome, we headed for the Colosseum.

SEVERUS

The shrill roar that erupted when I appeared in the imperial wardrobe and greeted the masses was really funny.  
-Get behind me," Dumbledore whispered, pushing me away with a pathetic nudge.  
-Leave me alone, you flabby cow," I replied, and sat down at Tom's feet.  
Smoking, she sat on the other side.Really, as aesthetic as it was (as my mother used to say) she looked in the eyes of others, it seemed to me that pink looked worse than she did to me... mother, I wanted to get her out of my mind quickly, thinking about her really made me a scared, tormented slave. I imperceptibly approached the pair of cow slaves with ostrich fans. It was stifling hot. At least there were games to enjoy and the view from here was great, for such a Matralia party.  
Tom was busy with a lot of scrolls and his court of secretaries, while I was having a great time. I exclaimed, "Wow!" when I saw the huge sand stretching out before the imperial box. Usually I was as tense as one in the presence of the emperor, but now I could open my mouth as fascinated as any commoner child in the stands.  
-This being the emperor's shadow has its advantages. The view is...  
-Do you think your mother will be around? -said Tom, checking one of his lists and moving on to another.  
-She's dead," I said wearily.- Shall we throw some dice, Caesar? The opening parade is always pretty dull.  
I plucked the imperial chamberlain, a tribune, two listless nobles from a rare family, Gracchus, and the emperor himself, until the cow at our side tapped me on the shoulder at the right moment and I had to put my hands on the ground so as not to fall.  
-Whoa, whoa! So you're cheating," said the emperor, and picked up the pair of dice that had fallen from my sleeve. -What can you expect from a sewer rat?  
The courtiers exchanged glances.  
-What do emperors do with cheaters? commented the cow, with her velvet-like face.  
-The usual thing is to throw them to the lions. What do you think of them as birthday presents, Severus? -he asked, with an inscrutable face. A dance with a lion in the arena of the Coliseum.  
-I think I'll pass, Caesar," I answered, uncomfortable, I didn't even dance. -Thank you.  
-Cheating," said the emperor, savoring the words, "cheating.  
-Look, I'll teach you to cheat like a champion," I said, forcing a smirk to get out of the ring. -You hide the trick dice in your palm, like this... See?  
The emperor watched my quick demonstration and smiled.  
-Let's see, show me.  
-Like this," I said, placing the dice in the emperor's hand. -No, Caesar, not like this. God, how slow you are.  
We were playing dice during animal hunts and morning executions.  
-Lord and God, the gladiator's tumo has arrived, his favorite show," the woman informed him, upset.  
Tom put the dice aside and looked out into the arena, where an African and a Thracian were paired up for the first fight.  
-The African will win," commented Tom.  
-My lord and God has a clairvoyant eye," whispered Bella, and this aroused a rumour of approval in the box.  
-No," I contradicted, "that African is a clumsy one. He stumbled over his own net as soon as he walked out the door. I'm betting on the Thracian.  
-Really?  
-And you, what do you know? -The woman scolded me again, getting into it.  
The emperor and I leaned against the railing and stared at the sand. For a moment, we stopped being enemies. We were no longer captive and captor, but two more passionate about the games. The Thracian beat the African, and then a couple of numbers came out, and then two Gauls. It really was a dream come true for as long as I can remember.   
-You really have an eye, little Severus," said Tom, "how did you know the Macedonian would lose?  
-He was hung over. Didn't you see how he looked away from the sun? -I answered with mastery taken from my golden father, another reason why I was convinced that I was born to be a gladiator; I was a genius in the subject despite the fact that this was my second time in the Coliseum, now quite destroyed and half crooked, as a result of what happened in my first time there, as a result of the madness of my parents, who were a couple of madmen, I put a handful of fresh figs in my mouth... it made me feel as if I were with them.  
The victors proudly walked out of the Gate of Life while the slaves of the Coliseum collected the bodies of the vanquished.  
-You have to look at gladiators like the Gaul who cut off the arm of that Greek, Caesar. The fibrous and agile ones.  
-Seriously? -Bellatrix muttered-Who taught you all that?  
-My father! -I answered excitedly. -He was the best. He wasn't worth the rules. He could show up for battle with a horse hangover and still...  
I covered my mouth stupidly.  
-So your father was a gladiator," said Tom, sitting down.- Interesting. I suppose your mother would tell you that he was the famous Barbarian... How romantic! The great gladiator leaving a lost son behind.  
-Hey," I protested, angrily. -My father was the Barbarian.  
The courtiers, lying on their beds, giggled.  
-How beautiful! -someone murmured.  
-This little boy is a liar," said the woman.  
-Not so," said the emperor, and he put down his glass. -The truth is that they look a bit alike. I saw the Barbarian a couple of times, and I never forget a face. What I miss is, how did you get to know him?  
-When I escaped from Brundisium," I lied quickly, stirring uncomfortably in my seat, "he taught me a few things.  
-Hence your skill with knives," said the emperor, looking at the scar on his foot. -Do you want to be a gladiator, Severus?  
-No.  
-Liar," said Tom, amused.  
-Besides being a cheat, a liar," the other one intervened again.  
-You stay out of this, cow," I said, fed up with her and looking the emperor in the eye, I was very firm and added, "Yes, I want to be a gladiator, like my father. My father hated games as if they were poison, and look how good he was. I will be better, because I like them. And it's all your fault, Caesar. It was because of you that my father ended up in the arena. Besides, you were the first person I ever really hurt, so what I do is also your fault.  
I was sweating my ass off and shaking like a fucking soft dessert. But again I smiled like a fool, so wide that it crossed my face and almost reached my ears.   
Tom could move very fast when he wanted to. Like lightning, he pounced on me, grabbed my robe and threw me over the railing.  
I landed on the sand. I heard my lungs empty as they hit the ground. I sat down and tried to catch my breath. The Coliseum was buzzing like a beehive.  
-Bring back the Gaul," the emperor ordered coldly to the guards of the Colosseum, "that "stringy and agile" who cut off the arm of a Greek.  
I stood up, and looked around in fear.   
The emperor threw his own dagger into the sand, at my feet.  
-It's time to prove your worth, little Harry.  
-A sword! -I demanded, looking at the box. -Give me a sword at least.  
Tom thought about it.  
-Lord and God," whispered Bellatrix, "with a dagger it will be much more fun.  
-Right," said Tom, and sat down.  
The murmur of the crowd had already become a roar. The game presenter looked at me and the emperor as he browsed through the program to see how he could present that unexpected event.  
-And now... a special match to the delight of our emperor," he finally announced to the stands. -The Gaul against... the boy.  
Stomping hard on the sand, the Gaul stood before me, who looked at both sides, incredulous. I started to sweat cold, I heard giggles coming from the box.  
-Now you don't act so cocky, huh?-the cow shouted at me.  
-Hail Caesar," said the Gaul, and raised his muscular arm to the imperial box.  
The emperor looked at me and asked:  
-Do you want to say something, gladiator?  
I took advantage of the waiting time to jump forward and plunge the dagger into the Gaul's knee, which let out a shriek. I took out my weapon and ran away.

HARRY

I got a knot in my stomach and a cold sweat ran down my back as I breathed in the smells of the Colosseum again: fear, sweat, iron, freshly beaten sand, the breath of rotten lion flesh, blood stains... I was afraid to wake up at any moment in the middle of the sand, waiting for an opponent to appear.  
But this time it was not going to be him who fought. It was my son's turn.  
The first furious blow of the Gaul passed whistling by Severus' hair, who managed to get away from the next feint and retreat before a wild stab. The curved sword of the Gaul tore his tunic. Hermione jumped up, and I squeezed his hand so hard that it seemed that his bones were melting.  
Remember the training, Severus. I felt the terror in my chest, forming an icy ball, but I did not dare to let it melt. I tried to convey my thoughts to that tiny red dot moving in the sand, trying to stay calm, as if I were teaching it a lesson in the vineyards. "Remember what I taught you. There is no compassion for beginners here. If you make a mistake, you cannot start over.  
Severus placed one knee in the sand and leaned shakily on the hand that held the knife. The Gaul advanced, dragging his wounded leg and raising his shining sword.  
Kill him, I said to myself, sending the thought to my son. I didn't want to turn him into a killer at the age of thirteen, but they were at the Coliseum and the rules were different there. Finish him off. Find a way to kill him.  
He threw a handful of sand into the eyes of the Gaul, who let out a cry and retreated, blinded. The boy slipped under the gladiator's shield and stabbed him.  
I and the entire Colosseum held our breath.  
When Severus emerged from under the motionless body of the Gaul, the audience began to applaud; when he stood up, they cheered him; when he recovered his dagger and wiped the blood from his face with a trembling hand, they burst into shouts of joy that lasted twenty minutes, throwing a shower of rose petals and silver coins over the boy's head, as they had done with me in the past.  
The praetorians carried Severus out of the Colosseum on their shoulders, sprinkled his rough hair with wine and patted him on the back. He seemed not to notice what was happening. I looked around with lost eyes as they lifted him to the imperial box, and I remembered the feeling after my first victory in the arena, amidst those deafening applauses.  
It's not how you imagined it, is it, boy?  
-I present to you Severus! -exclaimed the emperor, raising the boy's arm and provoking a new wave of ovations.  
Tom's voice rose above the shouting, applause and kicking, and reached the last row of seats at the top of the amphitheater:  
-Severus, the son of the Barbarian!

On the way back to her rented room, Hermione collapsed on the couch, I hugged her tense body and closed my eyes, sinking my face into her hair. I couldn't get those images out of my head that left a horrible taste of ashes in her mouth.  
Indifferent to her terror, the demon quietly devoted himself to tearing off one by one the emperor's limbs.  
-We have to kill him.  
I was startled by that tone... Was he serious?  
-To the emperor? -I asked, although I knew the answer perfectly well.  
The demon purred with joy inside me at the approval of his wishes.  
-He did it to show me and hunt me down," she said, looking at the place with hatred, with hatred of Rome.-He wants me to come out. He probably knows that I am not dead and he could read my presence in the stands. And they will kill him. He'll keep throwing him into the sand.  
-Yes.  
-Even if we manage to rescue Severus, Tom will be on top of us and our minds. It doesn't matter where we run.  
-Yes.  
-That's why he has to die. There is no other way out.  
-I will kill him," I said, "very quietly. You escape from Rome with Severus.  
I wanted to live, but it was the only solution.  
-No," exclaimed Hermione, trembling, "no.  
-But...  
-I say no! -she protested, holding my face in her hands. -I know a man who will know what to do. We have to go see him.  
-Hermione...  
She hugged me tightly, and for a while we remained silent.

ALBUS

-What are you thinking about, Draco? -I asked as soon as my son closed the library door.  
Delphi had held up pretty well his first few games, without crying or getting dizzy from the bloodbath, but on the bunk back home she had one of her fits. Now she was with Morgana, recovering. I would have been with her, but he suddenly showed up in the atrium of my house.  
-Draco? -I thought you would be in the palace.  
-The emperor ordered me to accompany Severus," he replied, dropping his hands on either side of his body.  
-The boy? -I asked with a disgusted face-What a barbaric act! Making children fight in the Coliseum.  
-The boy is fine," he said, agitated, "although he is still shaking and trying to hold back tears. He told me he would kill me if I laughed at him, but I never felt less like laughing.  
Draco's eyes went from the pool in the atrium to the columns supporting the roof. I watched him in silence and proposed to him:  
-Maybe you'd rather we went to my office.  
-Yes," he hurried to answer, "I have to talk to you. I need your advice.  
-What's going on?  
Draco relaxed a little and, looking at the wall behind me, he recited with the tone of a legionnaire transmitting a report to his superiors:  
-Sir, I have come to the conclusion that Emperor Tom is not fit for the office he holds.  
I blinked in surprise, and sat down on the nearest bench.  
-It continues.  
-He sent his niece Luna Lovegood into exile and executed her husband and children without just cause," he added, not looking away from the wall. -I have reason to believe that he is guilty of having tortured his concubine Persephone and his niece Helena, who... he also murdered without justification. I believe he is a monster.  
-He may be," I said, "but he's still a good emperor, isn't he?  
-A monster cannot...  
-Of course a monster can be a good emperor, Draco. Tom's private life may leave much to be desired, but there is no doubt that he is a good administrator, a skilled jurist and a very capable general. Under his reign we have enjoyed great stability, as well as a lot of boring but peaceful things: a healthy economy, low levels of corruption... -I enumerated as I spun a calamus between my fingers-. You are too young to remember the year of the four emperors, but many who remember it will have no qualms about putting up with a little monstrosity in exchange for stability.  
-I don't think so," Draco said, looking straight into my eyes, "I think Tom should be eliminated.  
I wondered how many hours of agony it would have taken him to summon up the courage to utter those words.  
-So why are you asking my advice?  
-Because you are a man of principle, perhaps the only one left in all of Rome. If you tell me that Tom does not deserve the position he holds, that will be enough for me.  
More agony for my poor son, I thought.Thank the goddesses he has a great heart.  
I was about to answer when the door suddenly opened and Morgana appeared.  
-Albus, Draco, someone has come who wants to... Well, here is the lady Persephone and this gentleman...  
-Harry," the big man introduced himself.   
-Who? -I asked, surprised.  
-It doesn't matter," said the woman, who crossed the room and glared at Draco.  
I looked at Morgana:  
-If you don't mind, my dear.  
-I am leaving now," she said, raising a hand, "whatever it is you are going to talk about, I do not want to know. I will see to it that the slaves are quiet.  
-Good girl.  
The former singer greeted my son with a condescending nod.  
Draco stared at her.  
-Do you want your son back?  
-And I want to see the emperor dead.  
-It seems we all want the same thing," I intervened.

-Divorce? -exclaimed Bella, leaning on my desk and raising her careful eyebrows. -Why would I want to do something like that, Albus?  
-By all accounts, the emperor is crazy about you. You've been together for six months now, haven't you? -I commented.- I thought maybe you'd rather be... available.  
-Men don't want their lovers to be available unless they suggest it to them," she said, adding with some coquetry: "So they say he's in love with me?  
-He must have a worse sense of smell than I do," I said and hid a smile, "if he can stand your vulgar fragance.  
-Calm down, dear. I'm not going to get rid of you yet. Although if one day Tom decides to make me an empress...  
-If someday...  
-Why not? He already got a divorce once, he might do it again. Don't I deserve a crown?  
I watched my wife: sinuous and seductive with her saffron silks, a gold necklace from India around her throat and braids of black and perfumed hair gathered on her elegant head.  
-You would make a perfect empress," I commented. -Let's hope Tom lives to crown you.  
\- I see you've heard the rumors.  
-It's been kept a secret, Bella, but I've heard something. You know I always have my ear to the ground. The emperor asked his astrologer to predict the date of his death and got a much closer answer than he would have liked.  
-Remus is not to be trusted," she said. -Nothing can kill Tom.  
-Of course, though the thought alone will give you panic.  
-Don't test me, Albus. If I am ever an empress," she said, waving her silks and bracelets, "I will stick your head on a pike.  
I smiled as she left my tablinum with her golden laced sandals. She took the bait. If Bellatrix tried to become empress, in less than a couple of weeks she would be out of Tom's protection. And if my suspicions were true, Draco would be at that very moment removing him from the evil influence of his lover.  
-Father? -said Delphi, poking her blonde head in the door.  
-Are you listening behind the locks again, Delphini?  
-It's the only way I can find out anything! -she said as she entered and closed the door behind her. Father, why did you suggest that you divorce him if you knew he wouldn't accept?  
-Ah, did you know?  
-I could hear it in your voice.  
-You're right," I said, staring at her, "I knew she wouldn't accept it.  
-Well, you should divorce her," she suggested.  
-Should I?  
-She's my mother, I'd have to defend her, but...  
-But?  
-She's beautiful. She's even a little interesting, like poisonous snakes. But she's horrible. Why didn't you get a divorce years ago?  
-You shouldn't ask that question, Delphini.  
-Yes, I should. -Why? Did she threaten you?  
"Not to me, to you", I wanted to answer her. Draco was prefect of the praetorium, the right arm of the emperor. Bella's slanders would not affect his honor. But Delphini had no such protection.  
-Did she threaten me?  
I was not surprised by the question. Our thoughts always went together. Despite the distance of ages  
-That shouldn't have stopped you, Father," she added.  
-No," I said with a smile, "but I'd rather wait to see you married first.  
Married, grown up and far from the reach of your mother's evil.  
-I don't think I want to get married. I'd rather see the world," said Delphi, adding in a firm tone, "Get a divorce.  
I looked at my child, without seeing her. Instead, I found a girl almost my height, with her hair up around her neck like a woman, and her feminine eyes awake and staring at me.  
-By the gods," I commented, "you have grown so much! And I didn't even realize it.  
-Will you think about it? -she begged again.  
-Yes, of course I'll think about it," I answered, stroking her hair. -And now, do you still want to give me a hug, or are you too old for such things?  
She put her cheek on my shoulder.  
-That never.

For a moment, I could see the girl's almost jaw-dropping expression.  
-Hello, Persephone," greeted the empress of Rome, who appeared in my tablinum and shook her hand as if they were old friends. -Nice to see you, my dear. I haven't heard good music since you left the palace. And this must be the famous Harry. I have seen you fight on many occasions, with great pleasure. Draco, you don't look well. Have you been ill? My husband is worried about you. Well, Albus, are we all here?  
In all the years I had been making pacts with her, I had never heard her talk so casually.  
-We should get to work," she added, and sat down on a padded stool. I'm officially having dinner with my sister Norris and her husband, so I only have a few hours. Tom continues to control my movements.  
I could guess the expression of those present without seeing them at all, the unimpeachable empress conspiring?  
Draco looked as if he had just been slapped on the forehead. The look of the huge gladiator went from the empress to the girl next to him, as if trying to compare them.  
I kissed her on the cheek with the confidence of an old friend.  
-Did you take the usual precautions?-My companion asked me.  
-As always. I'm supposed to be having dinner at Minerva's house. We've been friends for years, no one will suspect.  
-True, Minerva will cover for you," said the empress. Then she looked at the others and asked, "Are they reliable?  
-And you? -Finally, Hermione said, taking a step forward, "can we trust you, domina?  
I spoke in the same formal tone I used in the Senate:  
-The empress and I have been working together on this since Helena's death.  
-Then, why is the emperor still alive? -asked Harry, and crossed his arms. -When I decide I want a man dead, I don't wait six months to do it.  
-As always. I'm supposed to be having dinner at Minerva's house. We've been friends for years, no one will suspect.  
-True, Minerva will cover for you," said the empress. Then she looked at the others and asked, "Are they reliable?  
-And you? -Finally," Hermione said, taking a step forward, "can we trust you, domina?  
I spoke in the same formal tone I used in the Senate:  
-The empress and I have been working together on this since Helena's death.  
-Then, why is the emperor still alive? -asked Harry, and crossed his arms. When I decide I want a man dead, I don't wait six months to do it.  
-Watch what you say! -intervened Draco.  
-No, you have every right to ask," said Albus, and I turned to the lover. - It took the empress and me a while to feel each other out. We did not trust each other.  
-I would have preferred to take care of this on my own," said the empress, with an elegant patrician accent and a determined tone, "but I realized that I would need help to finish off Tom.  
After a silent pause, the empress looked at them, pondering, and added  
-For a while I thought about recruiting you for the cause, my dear, but I wasn't sure if you were on him side or not. You looked very much the same and challenging as if you were really his goddess as he claimed. I congratulate you, you have been by far the most resilient  
The empress looked at the circle of conspirators and asked:  
-Are we all ready?  
Draco ran a hand through his hair and said, a little sadly:  
-Before we go too far, I want to make one thing clear: I am not going to do it. I will pave the way for you, but I will not be the executing hand. I don't care if it's with poison or with a knife. I owe it to him.  
-We were counting on it," said the empress.  
The big man grunted. I was able to witness a little bit of the silent diatribe of jealousy from the murdering couple; in which Draco apparently was in the middle. "In another life, he doesn't even remember that for sure anymore. "What a bloody bore if you had dawned on his bed!" "And you, have you been sleeping alone all these years because of me? He quickly changed the subject.  
We sat down, uncomfortable, planning the death of an emperor. Or would it be better to say that Harry, Draco and Hermione were uncomfortable, because the empress and I were at our ease and, in unison, we addressed the ex-gladiator:  
-You, who have killed before, are the logical choice, -I said. -Would you be willing?  
-I just need a knife," he answered in a plain voice, although I broke out in a cold sweat.  
-He's a common hitman! -exclaimed Draco.  
Harry smiled and the empress looked at him.  
-There was a time when you were the best fighter in Rome, but you are not young anymore. Are you still the best?  
-He is," she intervened.- He hasn't fought in the arena for years, but he's as good as ever.  
Even better, I almost read her thoughts.  
-It won't be easy," explained the empress. -My husband may look like a bum, but he fights like the best.  
-He sleeps with a dagger under his pillow," added Hermione.  
Harry looked at her.  
-Really? Wow, a breakthrough from my days. Just out of curiosity, my dear, how come you never stabbed him in his sleep?  
-Because I couldn't die," she replied with a sneer. -Why didn't you? You had the same chances as I did. Anyone can kill an emperor, can't they? If Harry kills Tom for you, we must first come up with a good plan to get him out alive.  
-You will get out alive," said the empress as she drew up a detailed list and explained the plan we had drawn up. "Draco, I trust you will be able to take care of the guards.  
-Yes, but," he said, and turned to me, "I do not like this. We are putting the fate of Rome into the hands of this... criminal.  
He shrugged his shoulders.   
Hermione gave him a scathing look and scrutinized him from top to bottom.  
-Well, he's not exactly a model citizen," muttered the empress, with an amused gleam in her eye.  
Those present would never have guessed that this woman had a sense of humor.  
-Draco, organizing an assassination is not a good thing," I said calmly to my son. -You knew that when you decided to join us. You can't oppose the means and methods. There is no honest way to do it.  
-But this man...  
-This man possesses qualities that we need. Are you going to offer them to us or not?  
After a long pause, he replied:  
-Yes.  
-Very well," I said, "then the chain is on.  
The two men looked at each other without much enthusiasm. At least there wasn't much passion anymore. A guerrilla was not welcome among them now that he exasperated one and ended up provoking the other. Something told me I wouldn't like the result. There were serious things at stake.  
Harry turned to me:  
-One more thing, how do we know we can trust you?  
Draco was surprised, but the empress and I remained unchanged.  
-You patricians like to sacrifice people for your political games," he added. "What do you care about the life of a finished old gladiator? Or a Jewish singer? Who can assure us that you will not throw us to the lions once we have done your dirty work?  
-Listen! -said the blond, but I put it off with a gesture in time.  
-Do you want to know if you can trust us? -I said-You can't know that, but you have no other way to get your son back.  
There was a brief silence, during which the two women held their gazes, and so did Harry and I, while Draco remained angry.  
The empress posed her glass of wine. Her silver silk dress was shaken and she said  
-Apparently we will have to trust each other, Persephone. Oh no, sorry, it's Hermione, isn't it?  
\- When can you bring Harry into the palace?  
-It is still early," said the empress, "we will have to wait until September.  
-September? -they exclaimed in unison.  
That was still several months away, and the boy was scheduled to fight again in the Colosseum next month. There were already drawings of him in armor and helmet, like his father, stuck all over the city. He had even seen one painted on the door of a school: "Severus, the little barbarian, the whim of the girls".  
-It has been kept secret -commented the empress-, but my husband asked his astrologer to predict the date of his death. According to Remus and the stars, Tom will die on September 18th of this year, at five o'clock in the afternoon. Until that day and time passes, it will be impossible to catch him off guard. We will strike the next day, when he is enjoying himself for having survived and he believes himself to be immortal.  
\- My son could die in a few weeks," she said.  
-He'll survive," said the empress, "that rascal is a little monster, but he entertains Tom. And my husband does not kill those who entertain him. You know that better than anyone else.  
-I want to make one thing clear," the man intervened, interlocking his hands as if they were carved from wood. -We will wait, but if my son loses his life in the sand, Tom will die on the same day and at the same time, and to hell with your plans.  
The empress looked at him, thoughtful:  
-Barbarian, did you train your son yourself?  
-Yes.  
-Then I am sure he will survive in the arena in style.  
The couple slowly dissipated, separated slightly and began their staring conversation  
-I think everything is clear now," said the empress, and covered her shoulders with the palla. It is time for me to return to the Domus Augustana. If I'm only a minute late, Tom will send the guards to ask my sister. Of course, he would make up any lie even though he doesn't like me, but that useless man of hers wouldn't be able to lie even to save his life.  
We parted without saying a word. Draco was playing with his praetorian helmet with a worried face. The empress said goodbye with a nod and went up to her bunk. I picked up the wine glasses, the cushions and the chairs with the security of one who is used to not leaving footprints. The couple went out to the doors of the house... although they already tasted their decision, they were unconsciously even clearer than the others.


	12. XII

BELLATRIX

-What does it mean that he can't see me? -I protested, looking proudly at the imperial chamberlain.  
-The emperor is busy at the moment, domina" he replied, without wrinkling.  
-He always has time for me," I suggested, and subtly waved my jade silks to remind him of what I was to the Lord and God of Rome.  
-He has given orders to sit and wait for him with the others, domina.  
Smoking, I waited at his door in the marble hall, like a common slave, together with the rest of interested parties, servants and courtiers who swarmed around the palace hoping to obtain an imperial favour. I was exposed to the curiosity, glances and gossip of those who flattered me while praying for my fall.  
Finally, the doors opened, but it was not my lover who appeared, but a girl with straight hair who came out smiling, like an idiot. Pansy Parkinson, the wife of a senator, renowned for her beauty. A seventeen year old girl who fanned herself with coquetry as she left Tom's private quarters. A young girl who, as she passed by me, gave me an unmistakable smirk of smugness.  
I forced a smile and entered the imperial tablinum before the chamberlain could stop me.  
-Bellatrix Dumbledore," he commented without looking up from a letter he was writing.  
Next to him a secretary was holding a blackboard, another was bringing him a pile of fresh calamus, two couriers were rushing out with rolls and writings bearing the imperial seal and a centurion was waiting nervously to give him a report.  
-I knew you'd turn up," Tom added.  
-Lord and God, I can't stand it any longer without seeing you," I said, and tried hard to keep my smile on. I assumed that the emperor was testing my loyalty, seeing if I would be upset by a slight slip. -Why don't you send the secretaries out? You've worked hard enough for today.  
-I am very busy," he answered, sealing a package of letters and handing them to a slave.  
I caressed his arm with my fingers.  
-Will I see you at the games tomorrow, then?  
I was planning to go to the imperial box in the secular games, the most important of the year. I had a new flaming colored stole, specially designed to highlight the fire opal necklace that Tom had given me last month.  
-Tomorrow I won't need your company at the games," said the emperor, and snapped his fingers.  
Instantly, a cloying freedman grabbed my elbow and asked me to leave the room. As soon as I came out, some interested parties swarmed around me to pay me exaggerated obeisances, as well as some flattering and envious courtiers. However, their numbers were much smaller than those surrounding that young girl with the flat face of Parkinson's.  
-What a pity, dominated by Bellatrix! -laughed the repulsive brat Hermione behind my back. -Has the emperor had enough of you? I told you, you were unlucky.  
-Shut up! -I yelled-Shut up! What do you know about luck if you're already dead? They'll kill you in the sand like your father.  
I slapped him hard, but he turned away smiling as he rubbed his face and said:  
-I will surely die soon, but no one forgets a dead gladiator. We become heroes. What do old whores like you become?  
-You're not a gladiator, squirt! -I exclaimed, throwing myself at him, but he dodged me with laughter-. The last time you won because you threw sand in the Gaul's face! Your father was quite a man, but you're nothing but a cowardly brat.  
He made an obscene gesture to me and ran away, you bloody monster! I picked up a lock of hair that was falling down my forehead, I got my smile back and forgot the words of that little boy. I still hadn't lost the emperor. Tom was indulging in certain pleasures, but he would come back to me as soon as he was satisfied. After all, it wasn't the first time this had happened. The trick was not to lose your temper.

The next morning I headed off to the secular games, not sparing any smiles at every speculative glance that crossed my path. My new dress and my fire opals were going to go bad with Albus. I entered the Dumbledore's box by the hand of my husband, eclipsing the ordinary Morgana, who was wearing a sad brown silk dress. To be honest, I didn't understand why she was still a guest of the family. Shortly after the execution of the vestal, Draco reluctantly asked Tom to allow him to break off his engagement. "No," was the emperor's succinct response, and that was the end of it. However, this woman had to know that she was not wanted. I took her off Albus' arm and she stopped laughing at my husband's jokes. No one would discover me with a worried face.  
-You're overreacting a bit, don't you think? -commented Albus.  
-You smile and kiss me, honey," I ordered him as I covered my lips with the fan as we sat down, "if you know what's good for you. Look, the parade is starting.  
I directed my attention serenely to the sand, ignoring my husband's bitter smile, ignoring how my daughter avoided me and, above all, ignoring the looks that were directed at me when the emperor made his appearance in his box. What did I have to worry about? I was the most beautiful, seductive and attractive woman in Rome. No seventeen-year-old fresh could compete with me. At the end of that week, Tom would beg me to return to his bed.  
I watched the animal duels, the comic performances and the parade of white bulls adorned with flowers. I stretched out to fill my wine glass and my eyes settled on Draco. Lately I looked better. He was healthier and had a nice roast on his pale skin, and even smiled occasionally. Perhaps he had outgrown his touching platonic love with the dead vestal. Draco in love with a vestal... What a topic!  
His friend (a certain Marty, or Barty, or something like that), who had become a regular guest in our box since Albus learned that he was a distant cousin of the family, approached Draco and elbowed him with a face of exasperation. He, obedient, addressed his fiancée:  
-I hope you are enjoying the show, Morgana.  
-Yes, it is wonderful.  
-We haven't seen much of each other lately. I have been very busy with my duties. Would you like to accompany me to the imperial banquet next week?  
-The first time I attended a palace banquet there was an orgy," replied Morgana bluntly. -And the second time, I attended a murder, an arrest and an attempted assassination. I don't feel like trying a third time.  
Draco could not suppress a smile that showed his white teeth. -Well, I can't blame you.  
-I have gone to see the augurs, Draco," said Morgana, "to ask them about our wedding date.  
-Ah, yes? -he commented cautiously.  
-It seems that the auspices are not favorable," she explained, "at least not in the next few months.  
-Whoops.  
They exchanged a shy glance, and then each one turned their attention to Barty and Albus respectively. I gave Draco that smile that always made his knees shake, but he greeted me with a polite nod and looked away. Playing hard to get in front of your friend and your fiancée, eh, I thought, we'll see how hard you are when I catch you alone. If Tom could have fun, why not me?  
The midday executions ended and the gladiators peeked through the Gate of Life in their purple capes, pairing up for the preliminary bouts. My daughter leaned out of the barrier and watched the muscular fighters attentively.  
-Since when is the little squeamish one fond of gladiators? -I asked her, irritated.  
-I'm not," she answered, her eyes fixed on the sand. -I have only seen them at the Matraly, and it was a very bad show. But I find it interesting.  
-You must have fallen in love with some trident fighter, I suppose," I said as I drew a fly from my cup.  
-No. I just find it amusing to see how gladiators behave. They are supposed to be trained to die with dignity, but they only worry about not dying. -Her eyes were directed from the arena to the steps crowds in the Colosseum, to the masses of commoners and patricians who were laughing and cheering alike. -And people seem not to realize  
-Didn't the little barbarian steal your heart? -I said, smiling. -What vulgar taste, Delphi. I know you're an ugly little girl who foams at the mouth when she has fits, but you can do better than a gladiator.  
-Delphi, switch seats with me," Albus said, "you can see better from here.  
They exchanged their seats, in a movement that left my daughter on the other side of Albus, next to Morgana. Delphi bent over the barrier to contemplate the sand, and my husband was instantly engaged in another boring conversation with his future daughter-in-law. Draco was busy listening to Barty describe a method of modernizing the legions, and all around us the crowd was cheering the gladiators as they warmed up with their wooden swords.  
-Albus," I said, "may I have some more wine, please?  
-Of course, my dear," he answered, and bowed down to fill my glass.  
At that moment, the emperor gave the signal and the gladiators threw themselves at each other with wild cries. I leaned out into the sand to have some fun at last. Nothing like a good butchering to clear my head.  
-By the way," said Albus as he handed me my drink, "I'm going to divorce you.  
-I'm sorry? -I said, looking away from a pair of Egyptians fighting over a trident.  
With a clear voice, above the shouts that surrounded the box, he repeated:  
-That we are divorced.  
Morgana turned to look at us.  
-What do you say?  
Delphi also turned and looked at me while down in the sand, a numide shrieked when a Gaul cut off his leg.  
-You shouldn't make this kind of joke, Albus," I said, head held high. -You know I only have to whisper a few words in the emperor's ear to get you killed.  
-It seems that now it is someone else who is whispering in his ear," he said, and pointed to the imperial box.  
The empress had retired and now her place was taken by a figure dressed in a black silk stole, leaning languidly on Tom's arm. A short figure with its thin curves.  
-Pansy Parkinson? It's a temporal whim. Tom wants me.  
-Well, it seems to me that he's already bored with you, Bella. Just like me. -He said, and gave me the same look he gave to senators who opposed his irrigation plans. -Therefore, I am divorcing you right now. You know that, legally, I can do it just by pronouncing the divorce formule, so I give you until tonight to collect all the belongings you have in my house. -I decided to leave aside the question of the emperor. What would Albus know about Tom? Nothing! But the other attack had caught me off guard, so I pulled out my fingernails.  
-Emperor or no emperor, you know what I'll do to you if you dare to divorce me. Your precious son will end up...  
-Besides," he interrupted me, "I'm going to report you for adultery. Within the sixty days prescribed by law, I will present to the court the evidence I have gathered. Yes, my dear," he added with a smile, "I mean it.  
I remained almost a minute without taking my eyes off him. Albus?  
Morgana had a happy face. Delphi watched us, his father and me, surprised, while the slaves of the Coliseum ran through the arena to remove the bodies of the fallen, avoiding the gladiators who continued to fight.  
-Morgana, my dear," I said aloud, "do you want to know something about your fiancé? As a newlywed, Draco raped me with the consent of your future father-in-law. Delphi is his daughter, not Albus'. I plan to report him for rape. What do you think?  
-That you are a liar," she answered without losing her temper.  
Albus placed his hand on Morgana's rough peasant fingers as a sign of gratitude.  
-Nice try, Bella," said my husband. -That story could have worked eight years ago. But if you air it out now, everyone will wonder what took you so long to do it. And then there's the matter of your own reputation, which you've tried to keep spotless for the past eight years. Do you want all your dirty laundry to come out at this point?  
-You... You wouldn't dare!  
-Your relationship with my son when (Morgana, please cover my daughter's ears) you were twenty-four years old. Your adventures with, according to my last count, twenty-two senators, nine praetors, three judges and five provincial governors.  
-It is not true... I never...  
-And those were men of your same social class,- he continued-What about the chariots, the masseurs at the public baths, the legionnaires, like that pair of Gallic brothers who took you at the same time, one from the front and one from the back?  
He raised his eyebrows while, in the sand, a trident fighter was dying with his guts pierced by a sword.  
-Governors and senators are one thing, Bellatrix, but to go to bed with lowly riffraff?  
I opened my mouth, dry as a parchment.  
-How is it possible! If you never look up from your stupid texts  
-Oh, I see far beyond my papers. In fact, I have been gathering evidence for years. I have documents, witnesses, slaves ready to talk (by the way, without the need for threats or torture). You were never a considerate mistress, Bella. I also have a couple of ex-lovers as witnesses. Junio Clodio, for example, to whom I offered to forgive his debts.  
-Haven't you thought about what that would mean to you? -I exclaimed furious -You will become the senator whose wife slept with every living creature in Rome.  
-Well, I suppose my reputation will be better than that," he said, and smiled. -And yours?  
Delphi pulled Morgana's hands away from her ears, laughing.  
-What are you laughing at! Do you think you will find a man willing to marry the daughter of a cuckold? If you do this to me there won't be a man in the whole Empire who will want to touch you.  
-By law," said Albus, in the same tone of voice he used in the Senate, "a man has the right to keep his wife's dowry if adultery is proved. Every last gold of your dowry will go to Delphi. Enough gold to be able to take anyone you want as a husband, although it is already a good match for any man.  
-You haven't won yet," I mumbled. -Judges are men, don't forget that. I know how to make a man agree with me.  
-I'll take my chances.  
There he was, sitting with Delphi and Morgana behind him, like a triumvirate of judges while a sea of blood was spilled behind his back. The fighting was already over. The winners were raising their arms, suffocated and triumphant. Corpses of the defeated were taken away to be thrown as food to lions. The gladiators' tumult had passed, just like mine.  
It was not possible, things could not end like that. I would end up being an outcast, having to accept a wedding with anyone. I looked around for a weapon, and I heard Draco laughing with Barty behind me.  
-What about your son, Albus? Who will he side with? In case you've forgotten, he loves me. If I put my mind to it, he will come to me with his tail between his legs, and if you think he will tolerate this, you are very much mistaken.  
-Well, let's ask him. Draco!  
Before I could stop him, Albus called his stepson, who was throwing coins from the box at a triumphant German in his wolf's clothing.  
-I'm going to divorce your stepmother, do you have any objections?  
Draco looked at me, contemplated my naked arms and my tempting shoulders. The body that once made him lose his senses.  
-No," he replied, with a tone so cold in his voice that it hit me like a gust of north wind.  
-Draco," I said, and bent down so he could see my breasts, "this is revenge. He wants to humiliate me. Please, I'm counting on you.  
He turned his back on me. It's as simple as that. He turned and continued chatting with a surprised Barty:  
-I think you're right about the legionnaires' training. He's too focused on conformity.  
That could not be happening to me. It was not possible.  
-Bella," said Albus.  
No, no... No!  
-I'm not going to leave you with nothing. Leave Draco and Delphi alone and I will drop the charges of adultery, so that you can keep your dowry.  
My dowry? What good was money to me without a husband? A Roman woman without a husband is worthless. Even if Albus did not stain my reputation in court, no patrician would agree to marry me after he so rudely disowned me. Would it be true that Tom had abandoned me?  
I began to tremble.  
Albus was already chatting with Morgana about Senate debates as if nothing had happened. Delphi, leaning against the railing, watched as the slaves cleaned the blood stains from the sand. Draco was discussing training techniques with his friend. In the imperial box, Pansy had let go of Tom's arm and sat on his lap.  
Divorced! I was now a divorced woman. Now I was Bellatrix Lestrange again, and not Mrs. Bellatrix, wife of a senator and lover of the emperor. It was as if in one breath I went back in time and all my progress of years evaporated like hot water. Just as Hermione vanished.  
I heard the roar of the masses and looked up at the imperial box. Tom had given the signal for the next act to begin: a trident fighter against an armored Gaul.  
He could not have tired of me so quickly. It was impossible.I had barely spent three months on the cusp.  
The trident gladiator soon died. The masses waited with expectation for the next fight: the little barbarian against a famous Syrian. I had the vain hope that the horrible son of Hermione would die slowly with a sword in his entrails, so she would finish evaporating completely. I started planning how to get Pansy out of the imperial box in the next interlude. And how to make Albus and Draco pay for what was happening to me.

HERMIONE

They dressed Severus in his father's old armor, adapted for his size. The mesh sleeve, the blue feathered helmet and the shin guards. His face, overshadowed by the helmet, was stiff as a rock. He was paired with a huge Syrian. He always seemed big for his age, but I was wrong. When they saluted the emperor, he looked tremendously tiny next to that giant Syrian with the big back. Amidst the fog of uncertainty that I was repressing inside, it took me a while to realize that Severus was already defending himself. The Syrian threw a high blow and the impact of steel against steel when the swords collided reverberated throughout the amphitheater. The giant advanced one step while Severus got loose and retreated. Then he got on the defensive in the face of my son's gentle attacks.  
-That Syrian has never fought against a left-handed person," commented Harry, serious and cold, but more scared and more interested in the opponent than he had been when he was fighting, he added calmly: "Severus has to keep trying to attack him from his weak side.  
To approach him, to avoid him, to move away. To approach it, to avoid it, to move away. Intelligent, I thought. I could feel the comic deja vu, and the worst thing is that despite my apparent stoicism, I knew perfectly well that as soon as my son was defeated and I was under the murderous edge of the sword, my knees would fall to the ground and my voice would cry out the word Mitte again as it did so long ago with the Barbarian barely defeated by six Hispanics... and the vigorous black eye resting on me with satisfaction would denote the end of everything.  
Wait for him. My son would bend over and spin the sand as if he had all the time in the world. His face was red from the sun, and the helmet turned his eyes into two dark slits.  
Approaching, dodging, turning away. The Syrian was losing his patience and was launching more and more furious attacks. Severus would stop the first two stabs, dodge the third and run away, stirring up the sand with his steps, unleashing the laughter of the Colosseum. The Syrian stopped, returned to the fighting position, and he repeated again his scheme: approaching, dodging, moving away.  
-Good," Harry muttered, "good.  
The Syrian stumbled and released a curse, as if he had twisted his ankle. He limped backwards.  
I shuddered. Severus stood still, tilted his head and turned away just as the Syrian jumped towards him. God, my son was so fast.  
The Syrian attacked again, charging and feinting, pushing Severus back.  
-Don't let him corner you," whispered Arius, but Severus took two more steps and his back hit the marble on the sand walls.  
I held my breath like the rest of the spectators, when the Syrian raised his sword.  
Then Severus attacked and the Syrian had almost no time to correct the angle of his sword, which hit the straps of his mesh sleeve, and penetrated his flesh at shoulder level.  
-Too high," Harry muttered, scared to death.  
The Syriac prepared to strike the coup de grâce and began to pull the sword from my son's shoulder, but then he grabbed it. He placed his hand on the blade that penetrated his flesh and held it. Blood began to drip from his hand and I saw the muscles in his arm tighten. Gritting his teeth, he kept the sword straight as he brought his shoulder closer to the hilt.  
Not too much, just until the Syrian was within reach of his arm. Just enough to attack him. Harry nodded in satisfaction, like a professional, when Severus threw his sword and the blood of the Syrian fell on the sand.  
-Well done," said Harry, as if his son had just finished training. He turned around to comfort me but froze when he saw that I was no longer by his side.  
I turned around noticing that I had moved towards the shore ready to scream...  
As I sat down, I was aware that I had been feeling familiarly strange for some time.

BELLATRIX

-What a lesson in strategy! And no less than at the Coliseum," said Barty, punching the railing.- It's the best surprise attack I've ever seen. If that kid ever gets his freedom, I want him in my legion.  
-If he survives," I sneered, but no one heard me.  
-I'll take him, I'll offer him a post in the Praetorian Guard," said Draco, and tossed a coin to the little barbarian.  
Severus tore the sword of the Syrian from his shoulder with his healthy arm. He looked at it for a moment and then threw it on the sand.  
-Poor" lamented Delphi, whose face was like a rat, all red.  
She began to give one of her attacks. I didn't want to be seen with a squirming brat foaming at the mouth, so while Morgana and Albus were tending to her, I slipped out of the box. On the sand they were rushing a stretcher to take Severus away, who was unconscious, while the audience continued to shout excitedly. Tom had stood up to applaud and Parkinson seemed half asleep next to him. That little girl had never really understood games. I'm sure the emperor preferred my company.  
The chamberlain blocked my way when I tried to enter the entrance to the imperial box.  
-The emperor has noticed the agitation in his box, madam," he said in a bored tone. -It seems that your daughter is ill, she should be by your side.  
-She is in good hands, her father...  
-Children are a matter for women. By imperative of the emperor, you must accompany your daughter home," said the chamberlain, with a slight smile on his lips. -Ah! The emperor ordered me to give you this, domina Bellatrix.  
He put a rather vulgar pearl necklace in my hand.  
-He will no longer require your services.  
My vision was clouded by a deafening explosion formed by Albus' dry warnings, Hermione's mocking face and the chuckles of the courtiers. Three months, I thought, numbed, and clenched my fist over the pitiful pearl necklace. Persephone lasted more than four years.  
-Who has taken my place? -I asked, "that stupid little girl Pansy, is is she better than me, is she more attentive to the emperor?  
-No, Bellatrix," said the Chamberlain, who was openly laughing on this occasion. -She is just, so to speak, newer.  
My stomach shrank as if I had been kicked. By the gods, how could I have lost the emperor? Only a week and a half ago I dreamed of leaving Albus and becoming an empress.  
The chamberlain frightened me:  
-The guards will accompany you to the exit.

DELPHI

At the last moment, Draco had to stay. "The emperor wishes your company." Barty offered to take me home.  
-I'll take you," -he said, holding me joyfully in his arms...how weak I felt. -She weighs less than a feather. Besides, from what my mother says, she's kind of a fourth niece or something. Where's her bunk?  
He made way through the crowd, down the marble stairs and out through one of the back arches of the Colosseum with me carrying. My father followed him with Morgana, and my mother came out sulking behind them. She had come back pale from the imperial box and we decided not to bait ourselves with her. Vipers, even if you snatch their venom, can still bite. But I had to restrain myself from laughing. Think about serious things, I said to myself: funerals, the classes on budget sessions, the last third of the Iliad. I was never aware of it when, in my first stage of life, I admired it, then I feared it, then it gave way to pity and annoyance, and now frankly I was annoyed and disgusted by its presence. She's my mother, I told myself, as stinking as she is. Until now, I was aware of my shrinking pleasure at the bad time she was having, the cause of my absence of voice when I had much to contribute with all my repressed silent knowledge, the cause of my coming to despise myself at some point.   
-You don't fool me, Albus Dumbledore," whispered Morgana, "your eyes are shining.  
-Me? No way!  
No no...I was not to join in the talk happily, that was only joy and justice for my father, not mine.   
Mother rode on the Dumbledore bunk with her chin up, as if to challenge anyone to throw her out. Barty shrugged his shoulders and pulled the golden sandals away from her to make room for me, and I smiled gratefully at him.  
-You go up, Morgana, and put the little girl's head in your lap.  
Strangely enough, I did not mind being treated as I was when I was four years old. The crowded bunkhouse went down the street. Bella cast a poisoned look at Barty. I couldn't hide a smile.  
I was cold and sweaty, but my eyelids stayed open. But I was still unable to speak without being overexcited.  
-You'll soon get over it," Barty said.  
-You know quite a bit about epilepsy, Commander," said Father as he watched me raise my head.  
-It's the disease every soldier wants to have. It was suffered by Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar.  
-This daughter is a nuisance," said mother, wrinkling her little nose. -She falls down in front of my friends and drools like a fool.  
-Will you shut up at once? -exclaimed Morgana before she could speak.  
-There's no shame in epilepsy," Barty explained, smiling. -Besides, it can be easily cured. In fact...  
He poked his head through the curtains and shouted to the porters:  
-Turn right there.  
-Why is there so much commotion? -asked Morgana.  
I let out a moan of surprise. There was much shouting in the street, the kind of tumult that was only heard on two occasions: the triumphal processions and the departure of the games. In this case, it was both.  
The way back to the Domus Augustana was blocked by masses of plebeians that were shouting and pushing each other, extending their arms toward the group of praetorians in red and gold in the center, carrying the stretcher with the little Barbarian on their shoulders. Without being able to avoid it, butterflies fluttered in my stomach.  
Barty jumped off the bunk, pushing his way through the crowd.  
-I'm Commander Barty on official business! Step aside, please, step aside... Will you move?... Yes, thank you, stand aside. Excuse me, Tribune...  
Finally he arrived with the praetorians and looked at the stretcher. With a warm face (I must look like a tomato, I thought ashamed) I heard his voice, tanned by a thousand battles, exclaiming clearly amidst the noise:  
-I just want to congratulate this young man for his fight.  
-Who the hell are you? -asked Severus.  
I caught sight of him, standing on his stretcher, covered with flowers like a coffin and with his arm covered with blood. The hands were struggling to touch him to pull out a lock of hair or a thread from his tunic as a souvenir. And I held my breath when his gaze fell on me unexpectedly. Time suddenly seemed static.  
-I am Commander Bartemius. I just wanted to tell you that it was an excellent fight," he said, and patted Severus' injured shoulder. -If you ever want to join the legions...  
-Don't touch me there! -he howled, putting his hand on his shoulder.  
-Excellent, excellent. You may continue, Tribunes.  
With his hand completely dyed red, Barty returned to the bunk.  
-Why did you do that? -asked my father as he rode back to them.  
-Fresh gladiator's blood," he said, with no time to protest, a bloody finger passed over my lips. - All soldiers know that it cures epilepsy.  
-No!" I exclaimed, finally speaking up.  
-I know it sounds like a wild ride," he said, smearing blood on my temple while I frowned and tried to spit- bur it works. Easy now, girl, don't get too excited, just drink it quietly.  
-By the gods, don't stain my dress," protested my mother, grimacing.  
If it weren't for all this diatribe, I wouldn't have had any joy or relief in seeing him alive. And then it happened, my muscles really relaxed.   
-How are you," Morgana asked, noticing how I was getting better energy.  
-I have a headache," I replied, "but I feel confident in my movements now.  
You see," said Barty with an ear-to-ear smile. As my father looked between us.  
I stopped my urge to ask him if he was okay and if he would recover. But apparently my eyes were not discreet enough.  
-Rest, little bird. The boy will survive.  
-For Olympus! -my mother protested, pulling her skirt away. -What a passion for a sewer rat.  
-I think there are plenty of people left in this bunk," said Barty, who grabbed her by the waist and shoved her out into the street.  
Then he closed the curtain, giving way to the screams and curses that were left behind.  
-Go ahead," he shouted to the porters. -That is no longer your mistress.  
The porters laughed and set off at a brisk pace. I heard now vaguely the shrieks of, and then the laughter of, my father.  
-Young man, I like your style.  
-Me too" I said, it seems I have another friend, I thought happily.  
When the bunk arrived at the house, I ran up the stairs.  
-Don't take off your blood for the rest of the day," Bartemius had advised me. -Use it to scare the visitors, you look like a demon. - I lay down on my bed looking at the ceiling, who would have thought that by praying years ago to Mars and Venus that that street child would come back to my life I would see him again? And look at the surprising and unlikely shape of the circumstance in which he returned. I vaguely heard the conversation in the room  
Morgana asked:  
-Do you think he will have another attack?  
-Of course he will," said Father. -Gladiator's blood is not a medicine. You will see that next week he will have another attack.  
But it was not like that.

ALBUS

-And when Tom is gone," said Hermione as she picked up the chairs and glasses, "who will be the emperor?  
-Some venerable old senator," replied Draco. -Probably Senator Cornelius, a man of prestigious lineage, a great record in the service of the Empire and with no known vices. But there may be another pair of candidates.  
-It's not a matter to be discussed in front of the slaves," the empress intervened, looking at Harry and Hermione.  
-True," said Harry, "it is not a matter to discuss before those of us who wish Rome and all its citizens to rot in hell.  
-As long as we get Severus back," she agreed, with an innocent smile (with no intention of not making fun) at the sight of the unpleasant and indignant expressions.  
Draco looked away and took a handful of black grapes from a silver bowl on the table.   
The conspirators left each one by his side and I was left turning off the lamps. The empress put on her palla, Harry and Hermione disappeared like ghosts, and my son stayed to help me erase the evidence that someone had been there. The date was coming down on us. Time was moving forward with a nightmarish slowness, but still the day when we would try to finish off the emperor was just around the corner, approaching slowly like a bad dream but also too quickly.   
-Who will be the next emperor? -Draco asked himself aloud, picking up a jug of wine. -Whoever wins the favor of the greatest number of legions, I suppose. Although, Father, did you not once write a treatise on the fact that an emperor should not have descendants in order to choose a suitable successor instead of relying on blood?- These months seemed to take on more and more will, practicality and coldness in the matter. Finally accepting the fact of going against the rule, motivated perhaps by the love of the magic Vestal. My son; in love with you, Helena, I thought without any more emotion with a ray of admiration.  
-I have written many treatises," I answered, crossing a furtive gaze with the empress.  
Draco looked at both of us, questioning, but the empress intervened, downplaying the importance of the matter:  
-I am sure that the appropriate candidate will come forward in due course," she said, and covered her hair with the palla, "and will surely eliminate all his rivals. Albus, Draco, good night - she offered us a smile and disappeared into the darkness. When the door closed, Draco shrugged his shoulders, still pondering. His Praetorian Guard would also play a role in the succession, just like the legions. As commander of the emperor's personal army, his support would be of great value to anyone claiming the throne. A disturbing idea.  
-Delphi, is that you? -I said, smiling at the figure that appeared at the door.  
I quickly hid the remaining wine glasses on the table.  
-What are you doing awake, daughter? -I asked.  
-I heard voices down here," she answered.  
The little girl, wrapped in her white nightgown, went over the curves of a snake mosaic with her bare toes.  
-Draco and I were discussing Cicero's Commentaries," I said. -He should know them better, but he is a soldier and it is difficult for him to learn.  
-I heard other voices," said the little one, while playing with his foot on the mosaics, "and I saw a bunk by the window. You had some very interesting guests, Dad.  
Draco was about to intervene, but Delphi raised his hand in a very adult gesture.  
-You don't have to say anything," she said, and went back to her room with a smile.- I'd rather not know.

TOM  
September 18, 96 A.D.

-And you're cheating again," I grumbled.  
-It's only good luck, Caesar," said the brat, showing his empty sleeves of tricked dice.  
-It can't be luck, you're a cheater.  
-If it bothers you, I'll take the boy, Caesar," Draco intervened.  
-All Jews are liars! -I exclaimed, rolling the dice.  
I had covered the walls with plates of selenite in anticipation of that day, so that I could see if someone was lurking behind my back.  
-Just like Persephone, who didn't even have that name. I should kill you all!  
I looked around, angry and uncomfortable. I scratched my forehead, distracted.  
-Will you be the one who tries to kill me today at five o'clock, Severus?  
The boy looked at me squeamishly. Well...he seemed to be suffocating enough from the constant vigil and relentless pressure all day.My typical crushing gaze had caused three tribunes to commit suicide this morning and all the residents of the palace seemed to be embraced by terror and despair and those who were shot from my home, acted like souls in distress fleeing from their prison. Only one will live forever.If it was Rome it was not, nor would it logically be them.  
-According to Remus, I am going to die today. Will you be the one to end my life?  
Draco cleared his throat and commented:  
-Caesar, he is only a child.  
-Children can kill," I exclaimed satiated.  
My eyes went through the silver reflections of the room, cautious, without stopping to scratch my forehead.   
-Caesar," said Draco, pointing calmly at my forehead.  
I lowered my hand and saw the blood under my nails.  
-By the gods," I muttered, "I hope this is all the blood that will be spilled today.  
-Well, I hope I see something else.  
-Oh, get him out of here! -I bellowed.  
The boy ran out of the room before Draco had time to grab him.   
It is ungodly not to attempt to suppress me, but to conform to the opinions of mortals.

SEVERUS

My shoulder was half healed after that fight at the Coliseum. I rubbed it with my absent gaze in the green wetlands of the garden. Draco said a few words to a couple of guards and then addressed me. We were the only people around the palace. The emperor, on the supposed day of his death, had ordered everyone to leave the Domus Augustana, except for a few praetorians, a handful of slaves and a few people selected by himself. In those marble corridors that used to be overflowing with robes and were a hive of voices, today one could only hear the sound of the slaves' sandals rushing to fulfill their tasks, the exchange of passwords when the guard changed and the solitary sound of the fountain.  
-What tranquility! -I commented without believing it at any moment.  
-Everything would be calmer if you would stop bothering the emperor," said Draco. -With the mood he is in today, he could have your head cut off.  
-He is always in a bad mood," I complained. I took a stone from a flower vase and threw it into the huge oval fountain," but I don't think it will kill me. He's looking forward to my next fight," I said, convincing myself.  
-And you? Your mother said that you always wanted to be a gladiator.  
-Well, it's not like I thought," I said, hesitantly. -People die in pain.  
I bowed my head in sorrow, not that I didn't know it until now; but to witness it and cause it; with the thundering roar of the sea that was the hundreds of voices screaming vigorously in the background...was something terrifyingly enlightening   
Remus appeared in the garden, with his old, worn-out sandals, tired look and distracted gesture, playing with a chain he was wearing around his neck that belonged to someone.  
-Raise your spirits, Severus," commented the astrologer. -The stars say that the emperor will die by nightfall. All your problems will be over by the time the moon rises.  
-I don't think so, he won't die today," I said, and threw another stone at the fountain in anger. -He will die of old age, on a warm feather bed, with a glass of wine in his hand, the bastard.  
-You too will die of old age," he said indifferently, "because you drive a carriage too fast. And the fact is that, although you will be an old general with a legion devoted to you that will call you Severus the Red, you will still like fast horses and races. You'll die fast, too, though you'll hold out long enough for your officers to gather around you in tears. There will also be a woman who will mourn you, although she will not show it. An arch will be built in your honor, and your men will toast in your memory with enough wine to float your funeral boat to Pluto, and swear that there never was a man like you. Not bad as death, eh? Though I know you don't believe me, because you have no faith in the stars.  
-You're crazy," I scoffed.  
-And my future, can't you guess? -said Draco, but the astrologer had already turned and was leaving, like a ghost, through the silent corridors where his steps were rumbling.

BELLATRIX

I went to Albus' house to make one last attempt to persuade him to remarry me. I hadn't slept with him for years, but it was worth a try. However, I did not find him at home.  
-He's in the Capitoline library, domina. He left orders that we should not allow you...  
Not to be allowed me? with a handful of darts from my forked tongue I made the slaves more submissive. It had been too many years of obedience to his mistress to have lost the habit. I snuck into the house and dropped into a bed of blue cushions in the atrium. It was a small, quiet mansion where there were never any romantic dates on the corners, no laughs at dirty jokes, and not much wine. I was no longer the lady of the house, the senator's wife. I tried to pretend I didn't care. "Really, I was so tired of that boring old man Albus, you can't imagine. But people whispered about how quickly he got rid of me after thirteen years of marriage, right after Tom left me too. Albus had not accused me of adultery, I kept my mouth shut about Draco and, until now, his father had kept his promise. But those damned Roman matrons, envious of my success, took every opportunity to gossip. If we add to this the fact that the last few weeks the pair of lovers they had were, for some strange reason, too busy to see me, it was understandable that I had to look for a new husband.  
Everyone wanted to have Bellatrix Lestrange as a lover, but no one wanted me as a wife.  
Delphi appeared in the atrium, reading a scroll.  
-Mother? -She said, and bowed when she saw me. -Father is not here, a messenger from the palace came to fetch him and he had to leave. I will tell him you have come.  
She turned around, ready to leave, but I stopped her.  
-She waited. I had been told she was in the library.  
-Oh... -Delphi was surprised and dropped the scroll. She bent down to pick it up, she added, "Well, maybe so. Excuse me, Mother, my guardian is waiting for me.  
-Wait! -I called her, getting off the bed. -Did you say a palace messenger?  
-That's what I thought," she answered, avoiding my gaze.  
-The Domus Augustana has been closed for several weeks, like a fortress, by order of the emperor. Who would send a messenger to Albus?  
-The empress," she answered, "is very fond of my father, like many people, you know.  
-Well, I see you are a little rude. -My daughter turned to leave, but I held her by the wrist. -I think we need to talk a little bit, dear. Now that I'm divorced, I have more time to spend with you.  
-I have nothing to tell you.  
-Well, I think you do," I said as an idea popped into my head as I remembered why Tom had shielded his palace like a fortress. -Today is the day the emperor is supposed to die, so the empress should be locked up and protected by her guards. Why would I send messages to your father?

ALBUS

We gathered in the Lucullus Gardens: two bunks with the curtains closed stopped in the same place.  
-Thank you," said Nagini, opening the curtain, "I know I didn't give you any notice.  
-Has Draco failed us? -I asked, very seriously.  
-No, he is in the palace calming Tom, he is the only one who can. We have a different problem. I've sent a page to pick up Harry. Is your house empty?  
-Yes, Delphi spends her evenings busy with her guardian and I have ordered the slaves not to allow any visitors in. What's going on?  
-We still have to move the plan forward.

DELPHI

-I don't like you lying to me," she said, caressing my arm. -The slaves told me that Albus was in the library, and you say he received a message from the empress. Someone is lying to me.  
Her freshly polished nails left red marks on my arm.  
-I was wrong, he's in the library.  
-I don't believe it," she said as she stroked my hair and I restrained myself from abruptly pushing her away-. You saw him receive a message from the palace, and he left. Probably to meet the empress. And what are they going to talk about on a day like today?  
He grabbed me by the hair and gave me a little tug.  
-I don't know. Ouch!  
The fear started to flood me.  
-You're lying!  
-I'm not lying, I swear.  
In that instant, there was a knock at the door  
-Domina? -asked the shy voice of a slave.  
-My daughter is having one of her fits," she shouted. -Leave me alone with her.  
I wanted to scream but she covered my mouth, pulled my hair so tightly that my head almost touched my back.  
-Albus and the empress see each other often, don't they?  
-What's the problem? -I answered, whimpering with tears in my eyes.  
-To go to bed they won't see each other, that's for sure. What's the point, then?-she said, giving another tug. -Does anyone else join them?  
-Leave me!  
I managed to get away by detaching a fringe from my head, but when I was about to flee, she slammed the door again:  
-Oh, darling, am I hurting you?  
She caressed my cheek and slapped me. I let out a scream.  
-Who do you see?  
I fell to the floor, trying to protect myself from her arm hits.  
-I don't know! I've never seen them!  
-Yes, you do! You rabbit-faced liar. How dare you lie to me?  
She grabbed my hair, turned my head and threw me against the edge of the table.   
-Where did you see them?  
-Here," I finally said, and burst into tears.

ALBUS

-Read this, Albus," said Nagini, and handed me a folded scroll on the senator's bunk.- An hour ago a slave brought it to me.  
I read in a hurry.  
-I see," I commented in a neutral tone, "will he do it soon?  
-Tom is in the habit of hurrying to pronounce death sentences.  
-Here he only cites "treason" as the reason for his arrest. Do you know anything?  
-No, no one followed me to our meetings. But he has wanted me dead for a decade, and for some reason has decided that the time has come. I'm likely to be killed soon, unless tonight...  
-Tonight? Impossible, he has taken many precautions. Draco would have to put pressure on him, and then he would become suspicious.  
-Tom will torture me to make me tell him the names of my collaborators, -commented the empress dryly.- As his wife, I have learned to endure pain, but I don't think you want to trust your son's life to my endurance, do you?

**Author's Note:**

> I know Bella's original surname is Black, but the most characteristic is Lestrange, so I took it.  
And don't be frightened by the reference Harry/Bellatrix hahaha, it's just an important point for this development to take place.  
If you would like to leave a note, comment or observation with confidence  
English is not my language, so if I have a mistake, let me know.  
Greetings!


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